Set High Quality Image as Desktop Wallpaper in Windows 7 with IrfanView

You have lots of HD or HQ Wallpapers but when you set it as wallpaper, the quality of your images on desktop are degraded or it gets pixelated.

When you set your images as wallpaper in Windows 7, the image you have set are converted into .JPG, that’s how Windows 7 do and here’s the proof by looking at the registry;

and we all know .jpg images have lower quality than .PNG or .BMP images. (pixel size may varies)

So, how can we set High Definition or High Quality images as wallpaper without loosing quality of the image?

We are going to use a 3rd party tool called IrfanView, which we already covered on our previous post. We haven’t tried other tool to do this job, but IrfanView can do this effortlessly.

Another question is why we need another tool, instead of using the built-in right-click Set as desktop background function in Windows? the answer to that are already explained above.

Lets get started

1st You’ll need to download IrfanView from here and install it in your Windows PC.

2nd You must have a High Quality Wallpaper/Image in .PNG or .BMP format, with the pixel size larger or the same of your current desktop screen size. In our example We’ll be using a 1920×1080 px wallpaper, I have 16:9 screen ratio so I use that. most common screen nowadays are 1920×1200 px that is 16:10 screen ratio.

3rd Now that you already have IrfanView installed and your HD or HQ Image, open IrfanView and load the image you want to set as wallpaper on your desktop in IrfanView.

4th You can resize the image according to your screen size by pressing CTRL+R on IrfanView, a dialogue box appears with the option you can choose to resize or you can just leave it as it is without resizing them.

5th In IrfanView, press CTRL+SHIFT+C on your keyboard and the image you loaded are now set as wallpaper in your desktop, and see the result of the image on your desktop as wallpaper, it is now clear, crisp and in high-quality resolution.

Note: Never use an image smaller than your current screen resolution or you’ll get undesirable effect of your image, it may get stretched-out. Only use an image the same size or larger of your screen resolution.
How can I know my screen resolution?
Right-click on your desktop > Screen resolution (Windows 7), right-click on your desktop > Properties > Advance (Windows XP)

Here’s registry entry to confirm that we are using .PNG or .BMP High Quality Wallpaper without degradation, not like when you set as desktop background built-in windows by default.

That’s all there is to it. Now your HD Wallpaper can be seen as what it is on your Windows 7 desktop. Enjoy.

Don’t forget to see our Free Wallpaper Category and download them at your convenience.