Mac guide

How to change your wallpaper on Mac

By Jasmine Mujeeb Raguman · Updated 31 October 2026 · 4 min read · macOS Ventura and later, including macOS 27

The quickest way is System Settings › Wallpaper › Add Photo. You can also set any picture straight from Finder or the Photos app, give each display or Space its own wallpaper, and let a folder of pictures change by itself.

• WallpaperA section of System Settings
• FinderControl-click a picture › Set Desktop Picture
• PhotosShare › Set Wallpaper
• SpacesTurn off Show on all Spaces for one picture each

Start with the right size

A wallpaper looks sharpest when it has as many pixels as your screen: 2560 × 1664 for a 13-inch MacBook Air, 3024 × 1986 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display (3024 × 1964 on 2021–2025 models), 5120 × 2880 for a Studio Display. Our Mac wallpaper sizes chart lists every model, and every Mac wallpaper here comes in each of those sizes. Save the file somewhere you'll keep it, such as your Pictures folder.

From System Settings

1. Open Wallpaper settings

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Wallpaper in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down to see it.

2. Add your picture

   Under Your Photos, click Add Photo and choose the file. On some macOS versions the buttons read Add Photo and Add Folder or Album at the top of the window.

3. Choose how it fits

   If the picture isn't your screen's shape, choose how it fills the screen from the pop-up menu next to it: fill the screen (trimming the edges), fit the whole picture, stretch it, centre it or tile it.

4. Every Space or just this one

   Show on all Spaces uses the picture on every desktop Space and display. Turn it off to keep a different picture on each.

You can also drag a picture from Finder onto the wallpaper preview at the top of Wallpaper settings.

Choose how it fits

When a picture's shape doesn't match your screen, macOS has to change it, and the pop-up menu beside the wallpaper decides how. Filling the screen is usually best: it enlarges the picture until there are no gaps and trims what doesn't fit. A picture cut to your exact screen size needs none of these, which is why it stays sharpest.

From Finder or Photos

1. Finder

   Control-click (or right-click) the image file and choose Set Desktop Picture.

2. Photos

   Select the photo, click the Share button in the toolbar, then choose Set Wallpaper.

Different displays and Spaces

With Show on all Spaces on, one picture covers every desktop Space and every connected display. Turn it off and each one keeps its own: switch to the Space, or go to the display, and choose a wallpaper there. A tall, portrait display works best with a picture made for its shape, such as an iPhone wallpaper cut to 4K.

Change the picture automatically

Instead of a single picture, choose a folder or a Photos album. Wallpaper settings then lets you set how often the picture changes and turn on shuffle so they appear in random order. Fill the folder with pictures at your screen's resolution so every one stays sharp.

Fix a blurry or cut-off wallpaper

• Use the native resolution, not the scaled size. System Settings › Displays shows a scaled size that is smaller than the screen's real pixels. A 13-inch MacBook Air really has 2560 × 1664 pixels, and the wallpaper is drawn on all of them.
• Fill the screen for pictures that are close to your screen's shape, and fit the whole picture when nothing may be cropped.
• Mind the top strip. On MacBook Air (M2 and later) and the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, the menu bar and the camera (a notch, or a Dynamic Island on the 2026 MacBook Pro) cover a strip at the top, so keep faces and text out of it.