Most advice about laptop wallpapers is about resolution. The thing that actually decides whether a wallpaper looks right is the laptop wallpaper ratio: the shape of the screen. Get the shape right and almost any reasonable resolution looks sharp. Get it wrong and part of your picture is cut off, however many pixels it has.
The short answer
Three ratios cover almost every laptop sold in the last decade.
| Ratio | Width divided by height | Typical resolutions | Typical laptops |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 1.78 | 1920x1080, 1366x768, 2560x1440, 3840x2160 | Mainstream Windows laptops, gaming laptops, most Chromebooks |
| 16:10 | 1.60 | 1920x1200, 2560x1600, 2880x1800, 3840x2400 | Premium Windows laptops, older MacBooks, many 14 and 16 inch models |
| 3:2 | 1.50 | 2256x1504, 2304x1536, 2496x1664, 2880x1920 | Microsoft Surface, Framework 13, some Chromebooks |
Find your row, and use a wallpaper in that ratio. For the full picture of sizes within each ratio, see the laptop wallpaper size guide.
How to work out your ratio in ten seconds
You do not need to know the ratio by name. Find your screen's resolution (Settings, then Display on Windows; the Apple menu, About This Mac, then Displays on a Mac), divide the width by the height, and compare the result with the table:
- Around 1.78 means 16:9.
- Around 1.6 means 16:10.
- Around 1.5 means 3:2.
1920 divided by 1200 is 1.6, so a 1920x1200 screen is 16:10. 2256 divided by 1504 is 1.5, so that is 3:2. If the number lands between two of them, you are probably looking at one of the in-between panels covered below.
The three ratios, and who uses them
16:9 is the default for budget and mid-range Windows laptops, because it shares panels and parts with televisions and monitors. It is also the ratio most wallpapers on the internet are made in, which is why a 16:9 laptop is the easiest to find wallpapers for.
16:10 gives you roughly ten percent more vertical space than 16:9 at the same width, which is why it spread across premium laptops: more lines of a document or a spreadsheet visible without scrolling. It is the ratio where the usual 16:9 wallpaper starts to go wrong.
3:2 is taller still, and is the shape Microsoft built the Surface line around, because it sits closer to a sheet of paper. A 3:2 laptop is where a standard 16:9 wallpaper loses the most.
Why notched MacBooks are not quite 16:10
The older, non-notched MacBook Air and Pro screens were true 16:10: 2560x1600 divided out to exactly 1.6. The current notched models are a little taller. A 2560x1664 Air works out to about 1.54, a 3024x1964 MacBook Pro 14 to about 1.54, and a 3456x2234 MacBook Pro 16 to about 1.55.
The extra height is the strip beside the notch, which Apple uses for the menu bar. In practice a normal 16:10 wallpaper still fits a notched MacBook almost perfectly. It only crops about four percent, because 1.54 divided by 1.6 is 0.96. For exact pixel counts per model, see the MacBook Air wallpaper size guide.
What a mismatched ratio actually crops
When the picture and the screen have different shapes, something has to be cut. With the default "fill" behaviour, the wallpaper is scaled until it covers the screen and the overflow is trimmed from the edges. How much is trimmed depends on the pair:
- A 16:9 wallpaper on a 16:10 screen loses about 10 percent of its width, because 1.6 divided by 1.78 is 0.9.
- A 16:9 wallpaper on a 3:2 screen loses about 16 percent, because 1.5 divided by 1.78 is 0.84.
- A 16:10 wallpaper on a 16:9 screen loses about 10 percent of its height, trimmed from the top and bottom.
Ten percent sounds small until it is the edge of a face, a horizon or a line of text. Sixteen percent is the difference between a centred subject and one cut in half.
Fill, fit, stretch, center, tile
Your operating system gives you choices for what to do about a mismatch, and each trades something away:
- Fill covers the whole screen and crops the overflow. Best default.
- Fit shows the whole picture and leaves bars of solid colour. Nothing is lost, but the screen is not covered.
- Stretch distorts the picture to force it to fit. Avoid this; circles become ovals.
- Center shows the picture at its own pixel size with no scaling. Right only if the file is the same size as your screen.
- Tile repeats a small image. Only worth it for seamless textures.
Choosing the right ratio up front means fill never has anything to trim.
Picking a wallpaper that survives any ratio
If you share a wallpaper across devices, or you are not sure of the ratio, favour images that keep their interest toward the middle. Soft gradients, repeating patterns and abstract shapes tolerate cropping because no single edge carries the picture. A portrait photographed with the face near the left edge does not.
A laptop and an external monitor
Plug in a second screen and you have two ratios at once, usually a 16:10 or 16:9 laptop beside a 16:9 or ultrawide monitor. One file cannot be right for both, so give each its own wallpaper. The guides for Windows and Mac show how.
Summary
- Divide width by height: 1.78 is 16:9, 1.6 is 16:10, 1.5 is 3:2.
- Ratio matters more than pixel count, because a mismatch crops the picture.
- Notched MacBooks are close to 16:10 but about four percent taller.
- Use fill, not stretch, and match the ratio so fill has nothing to trim.
FAQ
What is the ratio of laptop wallpaper?
It is whatever shape your laptop screen is. Most laptops are 16:9, 16:10 or 3:2. A wallpaper in the same ratio as your screen fills it without cropping.
What is the laptop wallpaper size ratio?
Check your screen resolution and divide width by height. About 1.78 is 16:9, about 1.6 is 16:10, and about 1.5 is 3:2. The wallpaper should match that ratio.
Is a 16:9 wallpaper OK on a 16:10 laptop?
Yes, it just loses about ten percent of its width to cropping with the fill setting. If the important part of the picture is in the centre, you will not notice.
What is the aspect ratio of a MacBook wallpaper?
Older MacBooks are 16:10. Current notched MacBooks are about 1.54:1, slightly taller. A 16:10 wallpaper fits them with only about four percent cropped.