Technologies for virtual reality display include a computing device coupled to a head-mounted display device. The head-mounted display includes a display panel, a pixel emission controller, and a pancake lens assembly. The display panel includes a display surface that emits light as multiple pixels. The pancake lens assembly includes folded optics to direct light to an eye box. The pixel emission controller applies an emission profile to each pixel of the light as a function of the position on the display surface of the corresponding pixel. The emission profile is determined based on an optical coupling between the position on the display surface through the pancake lens assembly to the eye box. The beam width of each pixel may decrease and the beam angle relative to an optical axis may increase as distance from the optical axis increases. Other embodiments are described and claimed.