A video signal processing apparatus includes a characteristic detection circuit for detecting luminance distribution corresponding to one frame of a video signal, a contrast compensation circuit for compensating contrast of the video signal, an edge compensation circuit for compensating an edge portion of the video signal, and a control circuit for determining a luminance range to be controlled on the basis of the luminance distribution detected by the characteristic detection circuit, and controlling the contrast compensation circuit and edge compensation circuit to conduct predetermined compensation on the video signal belonging to the luminance range. The control circuit controls the contrast compensation circuit to increase contrast for the video signal in the luminance range as compared with the video signal in other regions, and controls the edge compensation circuit to make an edge compensation quantity for the video signal in the luminance range smaller as compared with other regions.