Systems and methods for compensating brightness uniformity of transmissive backlit display devices using auxiliary lights to provide additional light to compensate light provided by the main backlights of a backlit image display device. Auxiliary lights may be, for example, embedded into the light pipe area of an image display and/or placed in any other suitable position relative to the main backlights that is suitable for compensating the main backlights. In one example implementation, brightness uniformity of a transmissive image display may be at least partially compensated based at least in part on measured luminance of one or more areas of the display.