How to adjust a Background image on Windows Mac {2023}
Have you set an image as your desktop background through your browser or a graphics program but the result doesn’t fully satisfy you? The wallpaper doesn’t cover the entire screen surface or, even worse, has it been distorted to fit the length of the desktop? These things can happen, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed.
Follow the instructions on how to scale a background image that I’m about to give you and I’ll show you how to easily scale any image to the size of your desktop without distorting or leaving empty spaces. In addition to showing you the procedures to follow on Windows and macOS to adapt a new desktop wallpaper, I will also tell you how to adapt a background image in HTML, if you are having fun creating web pages “manually”.
How do you say? Can’t wait to get started? Very good: make yourself comfortable, take all the time you need to concentrate on reading this guide and, more importantly, try to put the indications I am about to give you into practice. I am convinced that, thanks to my “tips”, you won’t have the slightest problem in completing the goal you have set for yourself. I wish you a good read and, above all, have fun!
Contents
How to adjust a background image on PC
We begin this examination on how to adapt a background image on PC by seeing the procedure to follow on Windows . I already anticipate that doing it is not at all complicated, as it is enough to go to the customization settings of the famous Microsoft operating system and select one of the adaptation options among those available.
Windows 11
First, let’s see how to act on a PC with Windows 11 on board , the latest major release of the Redmond giant’s desktop operating system.
To proceed, click on the Start button (the one showing the Windows logo , located in the application bar located at the bottom), click on the Settings button (the gear icon ) and, in the new window that has opened, select the Customization item in the left sidebar. If you want, you can also speed up the steps I just showed you by right-clicking an “empty” spot on the desktop and selecting Personalize from the context menu.
Subsequently, select the item Background in the new screen that has opened, click on the Browse button and choose the background to set. Finally, decide how to adapt the wallpaper using the menu corresponding to the item Choose an adaptation for the desktop image , taking care to select the option you like best: Fill , Center , Extend , etc.
I advise you to try various options and find the one that allows you to obtain the best possible result: usually you get good results with the Fill and Extend options . The changes will be applied immediately and, after having made them, you can close the open window by pressing on the (x) located at the top right of the same.
Windows 10
If your PC is equipped with Windows 10 , to adapt an image to the desktop, open the Start menu by clicking on the button depicting the Windows logo which is located at the bottom left and presses on the icon depicting the gears located in the sidebar located on the left, so as to go to the Settings .
At this point, select the Personalization item present in the window that has appeared in the center of the screen and select the Background tab located on the left sidebar (if necessary). Alternatively, you can reach this screen by right-clicking on an “empty” spot on the desktop and selecting the Personalize item from the menu that opens.
Now, press the Browse button located in the Choose your image section and choose the photo you want to use as wallpaper (otherwise select one of the default Windows wallpapers). To fit the chosen image to the desktop, open the Choose a position menu located a little further down and click on one of the fitting options among those available (e.g. Fill , Fit , Stretch , Tile , Center or Stretch). Perhaps try several to see which option works best for you. For more information on how to change wallpaper on Windows 10, read the guide I just linked to you.
Windows 7
If you want to fit an image to the desktop on Windows 7 , you have to follow more or less the same instructions that I gave you just now. To begin with, go to the desktop, right-click on a point on the screen where there are no icons and select the Personalize item from the menu that appears. In the window that opens, click on the item Desktop background (located at the bottom left) to access the background display settings.
To best adapt the image you have chosen as your desktop background to your PC screen, you must use the drop-down menu at the bottom left and select an option between Fit or Fill (if you wish, you can also try other options , but these are the ones that usually give better results). The first adapts the selected image to the desktop as best as possible without enlarging or stretching it, while the second expands the background so that it fills the entire screen surface (without distorting it or changing its aspect ratio).
The changes are applied in real time, so you can immediately see the result on your computer screen. When you are satisfied with the setting obtained, however, remember to press the Save changes button to save the settings you have changed. For more information on how to change wallpaper on Windows 7, read the guide I just linked to you.
How to adjust a background image on Mac
Do you use a Mac and would therefore like to know if it is possible to adapt an image to the macOS desktop ? But of course you can! To do this, all you have to do is go to the operating system settings, select the image you want to use as wallpaper and then choose the option by which to adapt it to the screen size. Find it all explained below.
To proceed on a Mac equipped with macOS 13 Ventura or later , go to System Settings by clicking on the gray icon with gears located on the Dock bar or, if you don’t see it, open the Apple menu (by clicking on the of the bitten apple at the top left, in the menu bar) and then select the item System Settings… in the opened menu.
Once this is done, in the window that appears on the screen, select the Background item in the sidebar located on the left, scroll the screen you are in and click on the Add folder or Add photo album button to add a folder or an album respectively of photos present in the Photos application, so as to set the background of your interest from one of these “sources”.
Once you have chosen the wallpaper, it will be applied instantly: to adapt it to your Mac desktop, open the menu located in correspondence with the name of the image chosen as wallpaper (it is located on the right of the window) and select the option that most choose from those available ( Full Screen , Fit to Screen , Stretch to Fill Screen or Center ). The changes will be applied instantly.
If you have a Mac equipped with macOS 12 Monterey or earlier versions , instead, go to System Preferences by clicking on the gray icon with gears located on the Dock bar (or open the Apple menu > System Preferences… ).
Then click on the Desktop and Screensaver item located at the top and press the Desktop tab which is located at the top of the window. If you want, you can also reach this screen more immediately: just right-click on a point without icons on the desktop and select the item Change desktop background… from the contextual menu.
After being right in the Desktop and Screen Saver window , expand the Photos menu located on the left or the Folders menu (depending on the position where the image of your interest is located), locate the exact position where the photo is located want to use as wallpaper and click on its preview located on the right side of the window. Of course, you can also use one of the wallpapers included “standard” in macOS as a background.
At this point, proceed with the adaptation of the background image that you have chosen by opening the drop-down menu at the top (near the thumbnail of the screen with the preview of the desktop with the new wallpaper) and select one of the adaptation options among those proposed (e.g. Full screen , Fit to screen , Enlarge to fill the screen , etc.). Again, the changes will be applied instantly.
For more information on how to change wallpaper on Mac, read the guide I just linked to you.
How to adjust an android wallpaper image
Do you have an Android device and would like to know if it is possible to adjust the wallpaper on your device? Of course you can and now I will prove it to you.
Make a long touch on an “empty” spot on the Home screen, press the Wallpaper button (or, depending on the device in use, Change wallpaper , Change wallpaper , and so on), which you should see in the lower left or right corner right side of the screen and select the source from which to get the background (e.g. Backgrounds/Background Gallery , Animated backgrounds , etc.), taking care to tap on the preview of the image you are interested in.
Finally, adjust the wallpaper adapting it as you prefer by zooming in or zooming out by opening/closing two fingers on the screen and, when you’re ready to set it, tap the Apply button (or Set wallpaper , Save , Done , etc .), deciding whether to apply it to the Home screen only or, possibly, also to the lock screen or both .
For more information on how to change wallpaper on Android, read the guide I just linked to you.
How to adjust an iPhone wallpaper image
If you want to adjust a background image on iPhone , know that the system also does this in this case. This does not mean, however, that even on iOS it is possible to intervene “manually” if desired.
To do this, activate the lock screen of your “iPhone by”, make a long tap on the background currently set and press the Customize button that appears at the bottom. Once this is done, decide whether to customize the background of the lock screen or the Home screen by selecting one of the two options and then pressing the postcard icon (bottom left).
At this point, locate the photo you want to set as wallpaper (if necessary, you can search for it manually in the albums or in the various categories among those listed above), select its preview and, as you can see, iOS will adjust the image to the screen. In any case, if you want to “adjust” it yourself, you can do so by pinching two fingers on the screen to crop and possibly zoom in on a detail in the background. To save the changes, then, press the Finish button .
For more information on how to change wallpaper on iPhone, read the guide I just linked to you.
How to adjust a PowerPoint background image
Did you come to this article to find out how to adapt a background image in PowerPoint ? After setting an image as the background of the slide you are interested in, go to the Design tab and click on the Format background button .
Now, in the sidebar on the right, select the item Image or texture fill and click on one of the buttons at the bottom, based on the “source” from which to take the image to import (e.g. File , to apply a image saved on your computer; Online , to import it from Bing or from your OneDrive space, etc.). To avoid display problems, I recommend using photos with a minimum resolution of 1365×768 pixels .
To best fit the slide, use the Offset and External settings to adjust; if you want to use the photo as a plot by repeating it indefinitely, use the Tiled images as plot function . If you want to repeat the visualization of the image or the texture just created on all the slides, remember to click on the Apply to all button , which you find at the bottom of the right sidebar. For more information, read my tutorial on how to put background in PowerPoint.
How to adjust a background image in HTML
Are you practicing the HTML language and are you creating web pages “by hand”? If so, chances are you’re interested in knowing how to scale a background image in HTML . I guarantee you that there is nothing complicated in doing this. To do this, in fact, you just need to know how to use the body background tag correctly .
In this case, you have to open the HTML file to act on, insert the URL of the image you want to use as background and close the tag, as you can see in the example below.
<body background=“[URL immagine]”>
</body>
The final result you will get will be a web page with the background image you have chosen to use, which will be repeated on the page. For this reason, I advise you to use images that have a rather large width, unless you want to create a “tile” effect.
When using an image as the background of the page, I also suggest that you assign a background color to it, so as to avoid using the default color set in the browser. How can you do it? Just use the bgcolor tag in conjunction with the background tag , like in the example below.
<body bg color=“[<a href=”https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_dei_colori“ target=”_blank“ rel=”noopener“>codicecolore</a>]” background=“[URL immagine]”>
</body>
If you want to deepen your knowledge of the HTML language, I suggest you take a look at the insights in which I explain in greater detail how to create a page in HTML and how to create a website in HTML: there you will find lots of other information that you will certainly they will be useful to you.