What Is Dual-Screen Wallpaper?

Dual-screen wallpaper is an image designed to stretch across the background of two computer screens. Unlike normal computer wallpapers, dual-screen wallpapers are much wider than they are high, so the image doesn’t appear stretched or distorted over two screens. Nature photos, illustrations and patterns are commonly used for dual-screen wallpapers, although there are many different types available. A number of websites offer free dual-screen wallpapers.

Modern computers often have graphics cards with two or more video outputs. This allows a user to connect two screens to the same computer. Some users have the first screen duplicated onto the second. Most dual-screen users, however, set the second monitor to extend his or her desktop. This means the user can have various applications showing at the same time without having to repeatedly switch between them.

A problem with dual-screen monitors is that the wallpaper, otherwise known as the operating system background, is usually just duplicated between the two. This is because most computer wallpapers are designed for a single monitor and appear distorted when stretched to fill the space of two monitors. A dual-screen wallpaper solves this problem by using a larger image that’s designed to fit across the two monitors. The result is a single image that flows across the two screens, instead of a single repeated image.

There are a number of different dual-screen wallpaper types. Nature photos are commonly used as a dual-screen wallpaper. This is because wide-angle nature images are perfectly suited to the requirements of a dual-screen setup. Illustrations and patterns also are common.

In most cases, a dual-screen wallpaper can easily be applied to any computer that uses two screens. The exact process depends on the operating system of the computer, along with the type of graphics card and driver being used, but most modern systems have dual-screen functionality as standard. It is possible to have computers with three or more screens, but wallpapers designed for these setups are less common.

Finding a dual-screen wallpaper is usually straightforward. There are a number of websites that offer free high-resolution wallpapers. Most of the popular computer wallpaper websites have sections for dual-screen images. Wallpaper websites sometimes specialize in different types of images, ranging from cartoons to minimalist designs, so it may take some searching to find the right one.