swaybg is a lightweight wallpaper utility for Wayland compositors. It displays background images or solid colours, providing a straightforward solution for desktop environments that do not include their own wallpaper manager.
The program is compatible with Wayland compositors implementing the wlr-layer-shell protocol and version 4 of wl_output. This includes compositors such as Sway. It does not require the xdg-output and xdg-shell protocols listed in earlier documentation.
swaybg supports several image scaling modes, including stretch, fill, fit, centre and tile. Different wallpapers or background settings can be applied to individual displays using the output selection option.
The utility is controlled from the command line, making it suitable for compositor configuration files and startup scripts. It deliberately avoids features such as wallpaper downloading, scheduling and graphical collection management.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Display wallpaper images on Wayland compositors supporting wlr-layer-shell and wl_output version 4.
- Supports stretch, fill, fit, centre and tile image scaling modes.
- Display a solid background colour without an image.
- Apply wallpapers and appearance settings to individual outputs using the -o option.
- Supports PNG images, with additional formats available through gdk-pixbuf.
- Configure backgrounds from the command line or compositor startup scripts.
Website: github.com/swaywm/swaybg
Support:
Developer: Drew DeVault
License: MIT License
swaybg is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Wallpaper Setters | |
|---|---|
| Fantascene | Play video wallpapers on your background |
| Variety | Highly configurable utility that offers a great range of features |
| WallpaperDownloader | Download, change, manage wallpapers with this Java tool |
| Superpaper | Advanced multi monitor wallpaper manager |
| wpgtk | Colorscheme, wallpaper and template manager |
| Waywallen | Dynamic wallpaper manager for Wayland desktop environments |
| Picture Of The Day | Grabs a picture of the day from a variety of sources |
| HydraPaper | Gtk utility to set different backgrounds for each monitor on GNOME |
| Waypaper | Lightweight graphical wallpaper manager |
| pacwall | Live wallpaper showing dependency graph and installed packages |
| chwall | Tiny automatic wallpaper changer |
| swaybg | Wallpaper utility for Wayland compositors |
| mpvpaper | Video wallpaper software |
| Komorebi | Fully customisable image, video, and web page wallpapers |
| Azote | GTK+3 based picture browser and background setter |
| WSelector | Wallpaper selector manager |
| Wall Changer | Automatic wallpaper changer |
| Hyprpaper | Wallpaper utility designed for Hyprland |
| Fondo | Quickly find beautiful wallpapers from Unsplash |
| feh | Mode-based image viewer and cataloger aimed at console users |
| xwallpaper | Wallpaper setting utility |
| Damask | Automatically set wallpaper images |
| wpaperd | Lightweight wallpaper daemon with automatic image rotation |
| Walt | Wallpaper manager for Hyprland |
| awww | Wallpaper daemon for Wayland |
| flowy | Lean privacy-preserving dynamic wallpaper changer |
| hpaper | Advanced wallpaper management for Wayland |
| chwp | Changes the wallpaper from the command line |
| Wallrus | Generate colorful abstract wallpapers |
| awtwall | Fast TUI wallpaper picker for Wayland |
| Tinte | Wallpaper utility and theme generator |
| Nitrogen | Background browser and setter |
| gSlapper | Wallpaper utility for Wayland |
| wewa | Renders web content as desktop wallpaper |
| Walldo | Simple graphical wallpaper changer for Linux desktops |
| randwall | Randomly changes the desktop wallpaper |
| Matuwall | Fast graphical wallpaper picker for Wayland desktops |
| Icebg | Lightweight wallpaper setter for Wayland compositors |
| Clockwork Orange | Manage wallpapers and lock screen backgrounds |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.