Certain aspects are directed to a circuit for brightness control. The circuit generally includes: a duty cycle adjustment circuit configured to receive a first backlight control signal having a first duty cycle and generate a second backlight control signal having a second duty cycle, the second duty cycle being greater than the first duty cycle if the first duty cycle is less than a threshold; a digital processor configured to set a value of a software brightness code based on the second duty cycle; and a backlight control circuit configured to drive a backlight in accordance with the software brightness code and the second duty cycle of the second backlight control signal.