mpvpaper, with a GUI in front of it.
mpvpaper is a powerful command-line tool that paints an mpv video onto your Wayland wallpaper. Fresco gives it a friendly desktop app: pick media, crop, rotate, set sound, and manage a library, with mpvpaper bundled and supervised as Fresco's Wayland backend.
If you already use mpvpaper, you know it works, and you know the cost: every wallpaper is a shell command with output names, mpv flags, and a process to babysit per monitor. There is no library, no editor, and no GUI.
Fresco wraps that workflow in a GTK4 app. On Wayland layer-shell compositors (COSMIC, Hyprland, Sway, KDE Plasma 6) it actually bundles mpvpaper and steers it over mpv's IPC socket, so you keep mpvpaper's playback while gaining a real interface: a searchable wallpaper library, a drag-to-crop and rotate editor, per-wallpaper volume, slideshows, playlists, and per-monitor wallpapers. On X11 it uses its own desktop-window backend instead.
It is the same engine you trust, with the manual parts removed. Both are free and open source.
A real GUI
Pick media and set it in a click. No output names, mpv flags, or processes to manage.
mpvpaper under the hood
On Wayland, Fresco bundles and supervises mpvpaper over mpv's IPC socket.
Library and editor
Searchable saved wallpapers, drag-to-crop, 90-degree rotate, and per-wallpaper sound.
Fresco vs mpvpaper
| Feature | Fresco | mpvpaper |
|---|---|---|
| GUI app, no terminal | ||
| Works on X11 | ||
| Works on Wayland (layer-shell) | ||
| Hardware decode, low CPU | ||
| Drag-to-crop and rotate | ||
| Playlists | Manual | |
| Image slideshow | ||
| Wallpaper library | ||
| Built-in wallpaper catalog | ||
| Per-display wallpapers (GUI) | Manual | |
| Day and night schedules | ||
| Actively maintained | ||
| Free and open source |
mpvpaper alternative FAQ
- Is there a GUI for mpvpaper?
- Yes. Fresco is a GTK4 desktop app that uses mpvpaper as its bundled Wayland backend, so you get mpvpaper playback with a real interface instead of the command line.
- Does Fresco replace mpvpaper or use it?
- Both, depending on session. On Wayland layer-shell compositors Fresco bundles and drives mpvpaper; on X11 it uses its own desktop-window backend.
- Do I still need to edit config files?
- No. Fresco manages playback, cropping, rotation, audio, and per-monitor wallpapers from the app, with no manual mpv or mpvpaper configuration.
Try Fresco. It is free.
Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license. Install the .deb and set your first live wallpaper in a minute.