Fresco
Top 3TrendingOpen-source live wallpapers for Linux desktops
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About Fresco
Fresco is a free, open-source live wallpaper app for Linux. It sets video, GIF, image, slideshow, and playlist wallpapers on your desktop, with decoding handled on the GPU through mpv so a live wallpaper costs about as much CPU as a static one.
It works on X11 and Wayland, including a layer-shell backend for COSMIC, Hyprland, Sway, and KDE Plasma 6. You can set different wallpapers per display, schedule day and night wallpapers, and pause playback on battery or when a window goes fullscreen. A built-in catalog lets you browse and set licensed wallpapers without leaving the app.
Optional widgets are drawn into the wallpaper itself: time-synced song lyrics over MPRIS, a clock in six themes, an audio visualiser, and album art on a turning record. A lightweight daemon keeps the wallpaper running after you close the app and across reboots.
It is distributed as a .deb for Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Mint, and Kali, and is also available on the deepin App Store. The project is GPL-3.0 licensed.
Why Fresco
01 · The problem
Linux users who want live or video wallpapers often have to rely on tools that lack a GUI, are unmaintained, or don't work consistently across X11 and Wayland desktops.
02 · The solution
Fresco provides a GUI app that sets video, GIF, image, slideshow, and playlist wallpapers with GPU-accelerated decoding, backed by a daemon that keeps playback running after the app is closed.
03 · What makes it different
The page states Fresco is the only actively maintained Linux live-wallpaper app it compares that combines a GUI, hardware decoding, X11 and Wayland support, and a built-in catalog, free.
Who it’s for
Linux desktop users who want animated or video wallpapers without a Web-based or Windows-only tool.
Launch progress
Week 43 leaderboard- Current rank
- #1of 5
- Peak rank
- #1
- Upvotes
- 1
Show daily ranks
| Day | Rank |
|---|---|
| Right now | #1 |
Updates
No updates since launch yet. Follow Fresco to hear when the maker ships something new.
Launch · Oct 19, 2026
Launched on ShipX in Week 43
On the Week 43 leaderboard.
Details
- Platforms
- WebLinux
- Pricing
- Free
- Launched
- Oct 19, 2026
Built by
ShipX verified maker
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