A scanning display includes a light source and a scanning assembly. The light source is configured to emit source light from a plurality of rows of emitters that are arranged parallel to a first dimension. The scanning assembly includes at least one optical element that conditions the source light. The scanning assembly is configured to scan the conditioned source light along a second dimension that is orthogonal to the first dimension. The scanning assembly configured to output the scanned light over a portion of a target area of an output waveguide. And a brightness of the scanned image light offsets dimming caused by the output waveguide expanding the scanned light in at least one dimension.