Microsoft Windows 10 has several but simple customization options, and installing an animated wallpaper is certainly not one of them. But thanks to a small and simple app on Microsoft Store, Windows 10 users can quickly and easily set a Live Wallpaper as their desktop background.
Windows 10 includes some settings to change the appearance of the desktop. There are a few apps to customize the appearance of the entire operating system to make it feel more personal. But to date, Microsoft is yet to offer a way to set Live or Animated Wallpapers.
Lively Wallpaper, an app that was recently listed on the Microsoft Store, offers this exact service. With the app, Windows 10 users no longer have to use tricks and hacks to get an animated wallpaper on their desktop.
What Is Lively Wallpaper?
There are multiple ways to enable live wallpapers or animated wallpaper on Windows 10. However, the majority involves tinkering with the operating system and making a few changes. A new open-source tool called ‘Lively Wallpaper’ is now available for download via the Microsoft Store. It makes the entire process very simple.
Lively is an open-source tool. It was and still is hosted on Github. It lets Windows 10 users use animated wallpapers. There are wallpapers made by other contributing members. But users can use the Lively Wallpaper app to create animated wallpapers.
Lively Wallpaper lets users import wallpapers from local storage or the internet. This means users can even use a YouTube clip as their desktop background.
The app features support for native display resolutions. Moreover, supported video files include WebM, M4V, MOV, AVI, M4V, and WMV. Simply put, the actual size of the Live Wallpaper and its source isn’t an issue. Interestingly, the app also allows making animated wallpapers from websites as well.
Lively Wallpaper uses the Chromium open-source platform to load HTML files, JavaScript, WebGL, and other web technology supported by Google. Users who want even more customization can create audio-sensitive wallpapers. These wallpapers react to system audio.
How to use the Lively Wallpaper App to install and use animated desktop backgrounds in Windows 10?
Download the Lively Wallpaper app either from GitHub or Microsoft Store. After the installation, the app asks to add itself to the system tray and startup apps list.
Once all the relevant permissions are granted, the app offers the Lively Wallpaper tool. Users can launch the tool from the system tray and select their favorite wallpaper from the predetermined group of live backgrounds.
The app uses Fluent UI. It has a total of 12 animated wallpapers that come preloaded. However, users should try and create their own. Users can drag any wallpaper or webpage from their desktop to the app and instantly set it as the desktop background. Additionally, users can also set up YouTube streams as wallpapers. The quality of the stream is adjustable.
Despite the animated wallpapers, Lively Wallpaper doesn’t appear to be resource-hungry. Testing indicates the app uses less than 100MB memory in the background. Moreover, the app pauses animations whenever users launch apps in the full-screen window. It is, however, recommended to use the app on a capable computer.