Type Video

Video Wallpapers

A Video wallpaper (type value 3, Video) plays a local video file — an .mp4, .mkv, .webm, and many more — as your desktop background. Video is the type to reach for when you want a smooth, cinematic, looping scene with the lowest practical overhead: the default engine, MpvPlayer (libmpv), is hardware-accelerated and far lighter than a browser. This page covers accepted formats, the engines that can play video, hardware acceleration, audio, customization, and limits.

Contents

• What it is
• Accepted video formats
• Engines for video
• How to apply a video wallpaper
• Hardware acceleration
• Audio
• Customization
• Interactivity and performance
• Tips
• See also

What it is

In the manifest, a video wallpaper has "Type": 3 and a Source that names the local video file inside the wallpaper folder. When created through the Portal, the source video is copied in with an s_ prefix.

Depending on the selected engine, the video plays either directly through libmpv / the OS media stack, or wrapped in the built-in VideoContent.html page when a browser engine is used.

Accepted video formats

When you drag a video into the Create dialog, these extensions are accepted (plus anything matching Sucrose's VideoExtensionType filter):

.mp4 .avi .mov .mkv .ogv .flv .wmv .hevc .webm .mpeg .mpeg1 .mpeg2 .mpeg4

Note that actual playability also depends on the engine. MpvPlayer (the default) is the most format-robust because it bundles libmpv. Nebula relies on the codecs installed in Windows, so a format Windows cannot decode will not play under Nebula.

Engines for video

Engine	Tech	Notes
MpvPlayer (default)	libmpv	Most format-robust; hardware-accelerated; ships its own libmpv-{arch}.dll. Requires Windows 10 1607+.
Nebula	WPF MediaElement (Media Foundation / DirectShow)	Lightweight; uses OS-installed codecs; good when libmpv is undesirable.
WebView	Microsoft Edge WebView2	Plays via VideoContent.html; heavier (Chromium).
CefSharp	Chromium Embedded Framework	Plays via VideoContent.html; heavier (Chromium).

Change the engine in Settings → Wallpaper (the VideoPlayer selector in the Extensions area). See Choosing Engines.

How to apply a video wallpaper

1. Open the Portal → Library.
2. Import a video (drag a supported file, or use the Create dialog) or pick an existing video wallpaper. See Managing Library.
3. Right-click the card and choose Use.
4. (Optional) Switch to a different video engine first in Settings → Wallpaper.

Hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration is a global wallpaper toggle (Settings → Wallpaper → HardwareAcceleration, default on) and affects the video engines as follows:

Engine	HardwareAcceleration ON	HardwareAcceleration OFF
MpvPlayer	hwdec=auto-safe	hwdec=no
WebView	--enable-gpu + --enable-gpu-vsync	--disable-gpu + --disable-gpu-vsync
CefSharp	enable-gpu=1 + enable-gpu-vsync=1	disable-gpu=1 + disable-gpu-vsync=1
Nebula	n/a (WPF handles it)	n/a

MpvPlayer's default config uses vo=gpu with a d3d11 GPU context and a low-latency profile; advanced users can override mpv settings via a user config file (uMpvPlayer.config). See Engine-MpvPlayer.

Audio

A video's audio track is governed by the global WallpaperVolume (0–100) setting and per-wallpaper mute. MpvPlayer maps volume 0–100 directly; Nebula's MediaElement uses a 0.0–1.0 scale (Volume / 100). You can mute a specific video from its Customize panel. Note that video audio is the soundtrack of the clip itself — it is not the same as the system loopback audio used for audio-reactive Web wallpapers.

Customization

The Customize panel depends on the engine:

• MpvPlayer: video-zoom (−5..5), saturation, hue, sharpen, brightness, contrast, scale-blur, gamma, speed (0.25–2.5), mute, subtitle (sid) toggle.
• WebView / CefSharp: scale (zoom), saturate, hue-rotate, brightness, contrast, blur, grayscale, sepia, invert, mirror, animation effect (Flat/Flip/Pulse/Shake/Bounce/Wiggle), playbackRate, muted, caption.

Changes re-apply live. See Customizing Wallpaper.

📷 Screenshot needed: The Customize panel for a Video wallpaper rendered by MpvPlayer.

Interactivity and performance

• Not interactive. Video wallpapers do not receive mouse/keyboard input.
• No live data. Video does not get the audio-reactive or system-status JS callbacks; those are exclusive to the Web type.
• Efficient. A hardware-accelerated MpvPlayer video is typically the lowest-overhead motion wallpaper. Auto Close/Pause behavior on lock, fullscreen, battery, sleep, and CPU/GPU/RAM thresholds is set by Performance Rules.

Tips

• Prefer MpvPlayer for unusual containers/codecs; switch to Nebula only if you want the lightest WPF-native player and your format is OS-supported.
• A short, seamlessly looping clip looks best — looping is controlled globally by WallpaperLoop (default on).
• To convert a heavy GIF into a far lighter wallpaper, re-encode it to .mp4/.webm and import it as a video.

See also

• Wallpaper Types — all six types and the engine mapping
• Engine-MpvPlayer — the default video engine
• Engine-Nebula — the lightweight WPF video engine
• Type-Gif — animated GIFs (consider converting to video)
• Performance Rules — automatic pause/close behavior