The luminance properties of FFL(Flat Fluorescent Lamp) backlights have been investigated in detail for the first time. The on-axis luminance gain as well as viewing-angle characteristics on various combinations of optical films were obtained from FFL backlight and compared to the results of conventional CCFL(cold-cathode fluorescent lamps) backlights. It was found that the on-axis luminance gains achieved by using optical films in the FFL backlight were lower than those in the CCFL backlight indicating that the recycling processes occurring between optical films and light sources/reflection sheet are not so effective in the FFL backlight due to the much larger area of, and thus higher absorption probability of the FFL. This result suggests that new optical films should be developed for FFL backlight and other flat-lamp backlight technologies.