Waywallen is a graphical dynamic wallpaper manager for Linux desktops.
It handles still images and video backgrounds, arranges wallpapers in playlists, and presents them on individual displays or canvases spanning several monitors. A background daemon works with a Qt/QML interface and separate display components for supported desktop environments and compositors.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Displays static images and video as desktop backgrounds.
- Supports KDE Plasma, GNOME, Hyprland, Niri, Wayfire, Sway and COSMIC through companion display backends.
- Assigns wallpapers independently to displays or groups multiple displays into a canvas.
- Provides stretch, fit, crop and centre presentation modes.
- Builds playlists with sequential, shuffle or random playback.
- Applies configurable rotation intervals and synchronises wallpaper selection across targets.
- Imports local wallpaper libraries and can automatically detect them.
- Searches and filters wallpapers by type, tag, content rating and combined rule groups.
- Browses and downloads wallpapers from Wallhaven through a bundled plugin.
- Provides Vulkan and VA-API hardware video decoding, with software decoding as a fallback.
- Offers controls for audio, volume, frame rate, resolution and GPU render-node selection.
- Can pause, mute or stop wallpapers according to window and session state, and blur paused backgrounds.
- Extends through Lua plugins, with ZIP installation and update checks in the interface.
- Adds Wallpaper Engine scene and web wallpaper support through the optional open-wallpaper-engine plugin.
Website: github.com/waywallen/waywallen
Support:
Developer: hypengw
License: MIT License

Waywallen is written in Rust. Learn Rust 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| randwall | Randomly changes the desktop wallpaper |
| LiveWallpaper | Completely animated OpenGL wallpaper on your background |
| Icebg | Lightweight wallpaper setter for Wayland compositors |
| Clockwork Orange | Manage wallpapers and lock screen backgrounds |
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