How to set different wallpapers for multiple displays on Mac

If you run more than one screen, you don't have to look at the same wallpaper on both. macOS has supported per-display wallpapers since 2013. Most people just don't know where the setting lives.

The actual steps

macOS Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia

1. Open System Settings → Wallpaper
2. At the top, you'll see thumbnails of each connected display
3. Click the display you want to change
4. Pick a wallpaper
5. Click the other display, pick a different one

That's it. Each display remembers its wallpaper independently.

macOS Monterey and earlier

1. System Preferences → Desktop & Screen Saver
2. Display thumbnails appear at the top
3. Click a display, choose its wallpaper
4. Switch to the next display

Important prerequisite

Make sure "Displays have separate Spaces" is enabled in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Mission Control. Without this, your displays share a single wallpaper.

What works well with multiple screens

Same artist, different image

Two wallpapers from the same collection or photographer. They share a color palette and style, so they look intentional together without being identical. This is the easiest way to get a cohesive look.

Color-matched pair

Pick wallpapers that share a dominant color but are otherwise different subjects or styles. A blue abstract on one screen and a blue-toned landscape on the other — unified without matching.

Functional distinction

Use wallpapers as visual cues: dark/minimal on your main work screen, something brighter or warmer on the secondary screen where you keep reference material and chat apps. After a while, you don't even think about which screen to look at — the wallpaper tells you.

Laptop + external

If you use a MacBook with an external display, a common setup: dark/simple wallpaper on the laptop (saves a tiny bit of battery, less distracting), more interesting wallpaper on the big screen where you do your primary work.

Aspect ratios

Watch out for this: your MacBook is 16:10, but most external monitors are 16:9. An ultrawide is 21:9. A wallpaper that looks great on one aspect ratio will get awkwardly cropped on another.

Either find wallpapers sized specifically for each display, or use images with the subject matter centered so the edges can be cropped without losing anything important.

Portrait monitors

If you run a vertical monitor (popular for code and documents), you need portrait-orientation wallpapers. Most wallpapers are landscape, so you'll either need to find portrait-specific ones or use an image with enough vertical content that it crops well when rotated.

Slideshows per display

Each display can also run its own independent slideshow from a different folder. In the wallpaper settings, click the display, add a folder, and set its rotation independently. You can have nature rotating on one screen and abstract art rotating on the other.

Wallpapery handles multi-display setups automatically — each screen gets its own wallpaper from the curated collection.