Guide
Moving wallpaper on a Mac
macOS has no built-in way to use your own video as a wallpaper. Its aerial wallpapers do move, but only as you lock or unlock your Mac and as the screen saver. To loop a video behind your desktop all day, you need an app.
By Chris at Neon FrenchieUpdated Checked on macOS 27.0.1 on
What macOS can do: aerial wallpapers
The closest built-in option is an aerial: slow-motion footage of landscapes, cities, the sea or Earth from space. It stays still on the desktop, then animates when you lock or unlock the Mac, and plays in full as your screen saver.
- Open System Settings, then Wallpaper.
- Choose an aerial from Landscape, Cityscape, Underwater or Earth. If it shows a download arrow, click it to download the video first.
- Or choose Shuffle Aerials and pick how often it changes, from continuously to every month.
By default, the aerial you pick is also your screen saver. To set it up from the other side, click Wallpaper, then Screen Saver…, choose an aerial, and turn on Show as wallpaper. macOS 27 adds four Golden Gate aerials: Day, Evening, Night and Sunset.
Loop your own video with an app
These apps play a video behind your desktop icons and windows, all day:
| What it plays | Price | Requires | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacScapes | Any movie file macOS can play, looped silently with Pro. Also scenes drawn live, free | Free. Pro is $1.99 a month, $12.99 a year or $19.99 once | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Aerial | A folder of your .mov and .mp4 files, or Apple's aerial videos | Free | macOS 26 or later for 4.1. Version 4.0.16 for macOS 15 |
| Backdrop | Your own clips through its Creator, or its community library | $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year or $29.99 once | macOS 15 or later |
| Wallper | MP4 files, or its library of 4K videos | $14.99 once for 3 Macs (Pro), $24.99 for 5 Macs (Pro+) | macOS 14.6 or later. Lock Screen needs macOS 26 |
| Wallspace | MP4 files, or its library | Free tier. Pro is $12.99 once | macOS 15 or later. Lock Screen needs macOS 26 |
| Vivid Walls | MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM and GIF, or a Wallpaper Engine library you own | $9.99 once | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon only |
If you’d like to compare them in more depth, our roundup of live wallpaper apps covers features, free versions and the Lock Screen.
Set a video as your wallpaper in MacScapes
- In MacScapes, open Vibes and click New Vibe, or Control-click a vibe you made and choose Edit….
- Under Background, choose Video, then Choose Movie…, and pick the file.
- Click Create Vibe (or Save when editing). The movie fills the screen and loops silently.
Video backgrounds are part of MacScapes Pro. MacScapes plays the file from where it is, so leave it in place. Unlike scenes, a video isn’t copied to your macOS desktop picture, so the Lock Screen keeps the picture it had. Your own photos work in the free version, as a still or with a slow drift.
Pick a video that loops well
- A clean loop. If the last frame matches the first, you won’t see a jump each time it restarts. Slow, steady footage like water, clouds or rain hides the seam best.
- The right size. Match your display’s resolution or a little above. Anything much larger costs energy without looking sharper.
- A common format. H.264 or HEVC in an .mp4 or .mov file plays everywhere on a Mac. Some apps only take MP4.
- Calm motion. It’s on screen all day, behind everything you do. Fast cuts and bright flashes get tiring quickly.
Video or a scene drawn live?
A video is a recording: its colors are fixed and the file is decoded all day. MacScapes’ scenes are drawn live instead, so any palette can recolor them, from soft paper tones to neon, and they stop drawing whenever the desktop is covered. Many are free. Our battery guide explains what each one costs on a MacBook.