Guide

How to Set a Wallpaper on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

Updated 17 August 2026

Setting a wallpaper takes about ten seconds on every platform. The part worth understanding is the fit setting, because that is what decides whether your image gets cropped, stretched or letterboxed.

Windows 11

1. Download the wallpaper and note where it saved — usually your Downloads folder.
2. Right-click the image and choose Set as desktop background. That is the fast route.
3. For more control, open Settings › Personalization › Background, set Personalize your background to Picture, then browse to the file.
4. Set Choose a fit to Fill if the wallpaper matches your screen shape, or Fit if you would rather see the whole image with bars at the edges.

Windows 10

The same steps apply, but the path is Settings › Personalization › Background. The fit options are identical.

macOS

1. Open Apple menu › System Settings › Wallpaper.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Add Photo or Add Folder, then select your downloaded image.
3. Use the dropdown beside the preview to choose Fill Screen, Fit to Screen, Stretch, Centre or Tile.

On older macOS versions the same settings live in System Preferences › Desktop & Screen Saver.

iPhone and iPad

1. Save the wallpaper to Photos by tapping and holding the image, then choosing Save to Photos.
2. Open Settings › Wallpaper › Add New Wallpaper.
3. Choose Photos and select the image.
4. Pinch to position and scale it, then tap Add. You can set it for the Lock Screen, Home Screen, or both.

Turn off Perspective Zoom if you do not want the image drifting as you tilt the phone — it crops slightly to make room for the effect.

Android

Android varies by manufacturer, but the common route works nearly everywhere:

1. Long-press an empty area of your home screen.
2. Tap Wallpapers or Wallpaper & style.
3. Choose My photos or Gallery, then pick the downloaded image.
4. Position it, then choose whether it applies to the Home screen, Lock screen or both.

Alternatively, open the image in your gallery app, tap the menu, and choose Set as wallpaper.

Multiple monitors

Windows can either repeat one wallpaper on each display or stretch a single image across all of them. In Settings › Personalization › Background, choosing Span stretches one image across the whole desktop — for which you want a wallpaper as wide as your combined resolution. Two 1920 × 1080 monitors side by side need 3840 × 1080.

To set a different wallpaper per monitor, right-click the image you want and choose Set for monitor 1 or 2. On macOS, System Settings › Wallpaper shows each display separately.

Understanding the fit options

• Fill — scales until the image covers the screen, cropping whatever overflows. Best when the shapes roughly match.
• Fit — scales until the whole image is visible, leaving bars on two sides. Nothing is lost or distorted.
• Stretch — forces the image to the screen's exact shape, distorting it. Avoid this one.
• Centre — places the image at original size without scaling. Only sensible when the image already matches your resolution.

If you download at the size the Your screen option offers, Fill and Fit produce the same result, because the image already matches your display exactly.