Windows 11 is getting a video wallpaper feature

Microsoft is testing a feature that will allow you to use a video as a wallpaper. Welcome to 2007!

When iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26 were announced, everyone said Liquid Glass looked similar to Aero. Well, if Apple can do it, surely Microsoft is allowed to do it.

I'm talking about DreamScene, a feature that was introduced in Windows Vista, that let users set a video as their desktop background. Ah, the good old days of the Start orb, Aero Glass effect, DreamScene, it was pretty cool. Anyway, that's enough reminiscing.

My point is live wallpapers have been around for a long time, as I said they were available on Windows Vista (removed from 7), are usable on Android and Linux. Even macOS has an option to set slow-motion videos as the Lock Screen background, I wrote an article about this a couple of years ago. Wallpaper Engine, Lively, and other apps also allow you to set an animated wallpaper. It looks like animated backgrounds are back in fashion, and Windows 11 is the latest to adopt it.

But, nothing beats a feature that is native to the operating system. PhantomOfEarth, known for reliable Windows feature leaks, spotted the new customization option that is hidden in the latest Windows 11 Dev and Beta builds. The feature can be accessed from the Settings > Personalization > Background. Click on browse photos, and instead of setting a picture, you can select a video as your desktop background. It supports the following video formats: MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, M4V, or MKV. When you have set a video wallpaper, go to your desktop, and it should play automatically. (check the link above for a demo).

The feature ID is 57645315, if you want to activate it via ViveTool. Apparently, video wallpapers are only available for the desktop, not for the lock screen.

Animated backgrounds are cool, but I never use them on any device, because it uses resources in the background, and drains the battery. Hopefully, Windows' implementation will be more power-efficient.

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