How can you use animated wallpapers on Windows 11?

If we compare the phone and the computer, on the phone we much prefer to play with wallpapers, colors, widgets and similar elements that brighten up our screens. We have already shown how you can change the background to a video or use an animated background on an Android phone. Dedicated launchers are also an easy way to personalize your phone, which offer many more options for customizing applications, folders, files, wallpapers... than the default ones offered by manufacturers. If you have a Samsung phone, you can install the Good Lock application instead of the launcher, which, like the launcher, adds a lot of new options for personalization and even better functionality.

As with Android, we can also use programs found on the Internet to help us on Windows. The best options are Lively Wallpaper, which is free and you'll have to find the wallpapers yourself, and the paid program Wallpaper Engine, which you can find on Steam and already has a huge collection of unique wallpapers.

How to use animated wallpapers in Windows 11 with Lively Wallpaper?

Lively Wallpaper is an open source application that is available completely free of charge right from the Microsoft Store or on GitHub. It is one of the most popular among Windows users and even Microsoft awarded it the best app in their store last year.

What do you need to get started?

1. Install the Lively Wallpaper program from the sources mentioned above, most easily from the Microsoft Store.
2. After installation, launch Lively Wallpaper and you will be greeted by a completely normal graphical interface with some pre-installed animated wallpapers.
   1. If you like one, click on it to set it as your wallpaper.
3. You can further modify each background. Click on the button More (three-dot symbol), and in the pop-up window Customize. Since each background is different, you will have different setting options (color, size, quality...) for each one. Finally, save the changes.

Some wallpapers are already in the gallery, but they are nothing special, just for a taste

You have set your first animated wallpaper. You can now close the Lively Wallpaper program. Clicking on the cross will minimize the program, but it will still run in the background. If you close the program completely, the animated background will also be turned off. By default, Lively Wallpaper starts when you turn on your computer. If you don't like it, you can change it in the settings.

Those 12 pre-installed wallpapers are almost certainly not what you're after, so it's time to upload our own wallpapers.

How to upload your own animated wallpapers?

If you're skilled with design tools, you can upload all your artwork to Lively Wallpaper, which supports videos, GIFs, and similar interactive wallpapers. Those who are less skilled will have to help themselves with the web, where endless backgrounds await you.

1. Return to Lively Wallpaper and click the + icon in the upper right corner.
2. Search for the file or drag it directly into the program.
   1. If you don't have it on disk and found a good background online, you can just paste the website link, provided the video/website supports embedding.
3. The third option is to use artificial intelligence, which turns a normal 2D image into a dynamic background. Click on Advanced and find the photo you'd like to transform. Sometimes the result is good, but often you will find some error.

You can add practically any video clip, GIF, animated photo or anything similar to the gallery

Most video formats are supported. You can upload the precious footage you have on your phone or camera to Lively Wallpaper and turn it into a video wallpaper.

YouTube videos are also supported. Copy the YouTube link and paste it in the mentioned window when adding wallpapers. If the video also has music, it will play when you're on your desktop. When another app is in the foreground, the music will stop. You can change this in the settings if you want. Don't copy the URL you get at the top but click on Share (Share) below the video and copy this link, otherwise the video will not work.

You can download videos that you like as wallpaper for your personal use. It also applies to YouTube shorts (Shorts) or other clips you will find online. To download, you can use one of the countless online tools available to us.

For all added video/animated wallpapers, you can change certain settings just like pre-installed ones. If the file is local, you can, for example, change the contrast, brightness... For videos from the Internet, you will not need to change the settings for the most part. With AI-modified backgrounds, however, you can change how noticeable the parallax effect is.

How to use animated wallpaper on multiple monitors?

If you are using only one monitor, then follow the instructions above. However, if you use two or even more monitors, you will have to make some changes.

In the top toolbar, this time click on Active Wallpapers. A window with all detected monitors will appear. Below you will be able to choose what the background layout should be.

• Screen means that the wallpaper will only be active on the selected monitor. You can set a different wallpaper for the second or third monitor.
• Sleep is a feature that will extend the background to all monitors. Sometimes the backgrounds turn out really well, even better than the default, but some are too stretched and don't fit well.
• Duplicate means that you will have the same background on all monitors.

Is Lively Wallpaper greedy for resources?

Surprisingly no, even though it's happening in the background all the time. If you have an older computer that is already lagging, then any additional process, including Lively Wallpaper, will only slow down your computer further. In the case of newer devices, the impact of this program on the performance of the computer is modest.

If you're still concerned about PC performance and laptop power consumption, go to Settings → Performance. You can change the program's behavior when full-screen apps/games are running, when the laptop is running on battery power, when you're connected to it from a remote computer, and more. The default settings are already pretty good, but you can go a step further with saving.

There aren't many good, free alternatives

For €4, you can get Wallpaper Engine on Steam, which eases the burden of finding good wallpapers online or YouTube. The installation process is very easy, and once installed, you'll be able to browse through a huge catalog of user-contributed wallpapers.

Two very easy solutions to spice up Windows 11.