A AC type plasma display apparatus has been disclosed, which satisfies various requirements such as the number of gradations that can be displayed, the display luminance, and the upper limit of power and, further, the efficiency of light emission and the luminance can be increased as much as possible and the display quality of which is not deteriorated. In the plasma display apparatus, a frame is composed of plural subfields, an image is displayed by causing a sustain discharge to occur in each subfield, the sustain discharge can be caused to occur by at least a first sustain waveform and a second sustain waveform different from the first sustain waveform, and the ratio of the first sustain waveform to the second sustain waveform changes, both waveforms being used to cause the sustain discharge to occur in each subfield.