Introduction: Despite its value in the research setting, the translation of phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) into the clinical realm is still limited. Background phase offsets have been identified as one of the key issues [1]. While concomitant and non-linear field effects can be well compensated for [2, 3], correction of phase offsets from eddy currents has been more demanding. Using magnetic field monitoring (MFM) [4,5] it has been demonstrated that background phase offsets in PC-MRI exhibit a complex spatiotemporal behavior [6]. Besides temporally smooth 0 and 1 order offsets, phase oscillations were found to cause various degrees of phase offsets depending on the echo time point within the sequence [6]. These oscillations have been associated with mechanical gradient coil vibrations and have led to the conclusion that MFM calibration is required for every PC-MRI protocol. As this calibration step adds to the complexity of the overall scan procedure, a generic systemspecific pre-emphasis compensation would be preferred over scan-by-scan MFM calibration in practice. In view of the overall goal, the present work aims at studying the response of oscillatory pre-emphasis calibration based on gradient impulse response functions (GIRF) measured with MFM [7]. Phantom and in-vivo experiments are presented to demonstrate that oscillatory pre-emphasis calibration reduces background phase offsets in PC-MRI well below 1% error of the encoding velocity. Theory: In PC-MRI velocity is proportional to the phase difference of two encoding segments with different first order gradient moments Δkν according to: ( , ) ( ) ( , ) ( , ). v v e r t k t v r t r t φ φ Δ = Δ + (1)