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Displays. Wallper across multiple monitors

Wallper is built for multi-monitor rigs — from dual desks to 4-screen studios, ultrawide command centers, and vertical side panels. This guide reflects current behavior, silent playback, and automatic optimizations for smooth performance.

Quick start (TL;DR)

  1. Open Wallper → choose a video.
  2. Click Set as Wallpaper → pick a display or All Displays.

What Wallper supports

  • Unlimited displays* — if macOS exposes a desktop, Wallper can target it. Use one, two, or a wall of monitors. *The practical limit is what your Mac and GPU can handle.
  • Broad video format support — Wallper relies on system codecs, so common containers and codecs (MP4 only for now; H.264/HEVC/ProRes/VP9/AV1 where available) just work. Drag & set.
  • Always-muted playback — wallpapers are intentionally silent to avoid audio conflicts and distractions.
  • Pause control — You can pause wallpapers from the application or the menu bar control.
Some macOS / virtual-display combos restrict true desktop-layer windows on secondary screens. Wallper uses the deepest layer allowed; when that isn't possible it falls back to a near-desktop layer that still looks seamless behind icons and windows.

Automatic video corrections (under the hood)

Wallper applies a lightweight, zero-setup pipeline to make most videos look right without manual editing:

  • Aspect & rotation fix — honors rotation flags and normalizes odd DAR/SAR combos so frames aren't squashed or sideways.
  • Frame pacing — matches playback cadence to each display's refresh, smoothing 24/30/60 fps sources without over-rendering.
  • Color-space adaptation — maps common HDR/BT.2020/BT.709 tags to your display mode; if the scene looks too punchy, switch the monitor to SDR for a neutral grade.
  • Pixel-format compatibility — converts exotic chroma subsampling and 10-bit sources to what your GPU decodes efficiently.

Performance & resource usage

Multi-monitor wallpaper playback is GPU-assisted. Wallper is designed to be unobtrusive even on large rigs, but total load depends on your Mac, the number of displays, and video bitrates.

  • Hardware decoding first — H.264/HEVC (and others when available) use system decoders to minimize CPU time.
  • One renderer per display — each monitor gets a dedicated lightweight renderer so inactive screens can be suspended independently.
  • Smart suspend — if a screen sleeps, is hidden by a full-screen app/game, or the Space isn't visible, Wallper stops rendering that display until it returns.
  • Bitrate matters — a single 80 Mbps 8K file can cost more than three 20–30 Mbps 4K files. Prefer efficient HEVC encodes for multi-display rigs.
  • Thermal sanity — if you hear fans, lower source bitrate or scale down non-primary displays. The picture will look the same at the desktop viewing distance.

Suggested baselines

  • 2–3 displays: 4K HEVC at 20–35 Mbps each is typically buttery on Apple silicon.
  • 4+ displays: mix one higher-detail clip with lighter loops (10–20 Mbps) on side/vertical panels.
  • High-refresh monitors (120/144 Hz): source fps can remain 30–60; Wallper paces frames to the display to avoid wasted work.

Limitations & expected behavior

  • Pause — Pause is available, you can pause wallpapers from the app or the menu bar control.
  • No audio — wallpapers are always muted.
  • Desktop layer limitations — some secondary or virtual displays can't host a true desktop-layer window; Wallper falls back gracefully.

Best practices

  • Prefer HEVC encodes with moderate bitrates for multi-screen setups.
  • Keep hero content on the primary display; use calmer loops on side panels.
  • If you game or edit full-screen, rely on smart suspend rather than pausing.

Tech specs & planning numbers

Formats & containers

  • Containers: MP4 (will be fixed soon)
  • Codecs: H.264 (AVC), HEVC (H.265), ProRes 422/4444, VP9, AV1 where supported by your macOS build and hardware.
  • Alpha: Supported when the codec/container carries an alpha channel (e.g., ProRes 4444) — rendered over the desktop.

Resolution & frame-rate guidance

  • Single-display: 4K@60 is trivial on Apple silicon with HEVC; 8K@60 is possible on higher-end chips but file bitrate matters.
  • Multi-display: 2–3× 4K@60 streams with moderate bitrates are a good baseline on most Apple silicon laptops; scale down bitrates for 4+ displays.
  • High-refresh (120/144 Hz): Sources at 30–60 fps are fine — Wallper paces frames to the display to avoid overwork.

Suggested bitrates (practical targets)

  • 1080p: 8–12 Mbps (HEVC) • 12–20 Mbps (H.264)
  • 1440p: 12–22 Mbps (HEVC) • 18–28 Mbps (H.264)
  • 4K: 15–40 Mbps (HEVC) • 28–55 Mbps (H.264)
  • 6K: 30–60 Mbps (HEVC)
  • 8K: 40–80 Mbps (HEVC)
These are planning numbers for smooth, low-fan playback on most Apple silicon Macs. Heavier scenes/noise require more bitrate; denoised sources can use less.

Resource behavior

  • CPU/GPU: Hardware decode keeps CPU usage low; GPU scales with resolution, refresh rate, and number of active displays.
  • Memory: Wallper streams from disk with modest buffers; RAM use grows roughly with the number of active streams and resolution.
  • Thermals: If fans ramp up, lower bitrates on secondary displays or reduce Scale slightly — the perceived quality at desktop distance remains high.