Every major version of Mac OS X macOS has come with a new default wallpaper. As you can see, I have collected them all here.
While great in their day, the early wallpapers are now quite small in the world of 5K displays.
Major props to the world-class designer who does all the art of Relay FM, the mysterious @forgottentowel, for upscaling some of these for modern screens.
If you want to see detailed screenshots of every release of OS X, click here.
10.0 Cheetah & 10.1 Puma
These 52 black backgrounds are a beauty to own. Not only these black backgrounds are suitable for Mac but also for Windows system. You can use any black background on both desptop, laptop and tablet devices. Let us know your favorite black background in comments below. Macbook Air Wallpapers Macbook Pro Wallpapers iMac Wallpapers All Mac Wallpapers Phone Wallpapers 660 iMac wallpapers A collection of the best 660 iMac wallpapers and backgrounds available for free download.
The first two releases of Mac OS X shared the same wallpaper. The sweeping blue arcs and curves helped set the tone of the new Aqua interface.
10.2 Jaguar
Jaguar took the same Aqua-inspired theme but added some depth and motion to things. In my head, the trails streaking across the screen were from a set of comets.
10.3 Panther
While Panther inflicted Macs everywhere with Brushed Metal, its wallpaper stayed on brand, refreshing the original 10.0 image.
10.4 Tiger
Many consider Tiger to be the best “classic” version of Mac OS X. While that may or may not be true, it has my favorite Aqua-inspired wallpaper.
10.5 Leopard
Complete with a revised, unified user interface and shiny new Dock, 10.5 broke the Aqua mold. As such, Leopard was the first version of OS X to break from the Aqua-themed wallpaper. It ushered in the “space era” of OS X wallpapers, which was used heavily in the new Time Machine interface as well.
10.6 Snow Leopard
The “no new features” mantra for Snow Leopard didn’t ban a new wallpaper, thankfully. This starscape is still one of my favorites.
10.7 Lion
Lion kept up the space theme, this time showing off the Andromeda galaxy. The space nerd in me likes the idea, but the execution of this one leaves dead-last on my list of favorites.
10.8 Mountain Lion
Just like Snow Leopard before it, with Mountain Lion, Apple opted to clean up and revise the existing theme as opposed to changing directions for what would be a less-impactful release of OS X.
10.9 Mavericks
Mavericks marked the beginning of Apple’s “California location” naming scheme for Mac releases. The wave depicted looks as intimidating as the ones in the famous surfing location.
10.10 Yosemite
Yosemite brought another UI refresh to the Mac, making things flatter and more modern. The wallpaper ushered in a new era based on … well … mountains.
10.11 El Capitan
Named after a breathtaking spot in Yosemite National Park, El Capitan was a clean-up year after 10.10.
10.12 Sierra
More mountains.
10.13 High Sierra
Even more mountains.
10.14 Mojave
No more mountains! Mojave brought a new system-wide Dark Mode, and the OS shipped with two versions of its default wallpaper to match. Users could even have macOS slowly fade between the two background images over the course of the day.
Download 5K versions:
10.15 Catalina
macOS Catalina brought big changes to the Mac, including the ability to run iPad apps natively, opening the platform up to a much larger number of developers than ever before. Catalina shipped with multiple variants of its default wallpaper, and the ability to shift between them as time progresses throughout the day:
Download 6K versions:
macOS Big Sur
This version of macOS is such a big deal, Apple changed the version number to 11.0. It will be the OS that brings support for Apple Silicon-powered Macs, and features a brand new design.
Download 6K versions:
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Change your desktop picture from System Preferences
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Click Desktop & Screensaver.
- From the Desktop pane, select a folder of images on the left, then click an image on the right to change your desktop picture.
In macOS Mojave or later, you can also choose from Dynamic Desktop images, which automatically change throughout the day based on the time of day in your location.
Add a folder of your own images
To add a folder of your own images, click the add button (+) below the list of folders, then choose the folder that contains your images.
For best results, choose images that are stored on your startup disk. Images stored on a different disk might not load reliably after restarting your Mac, depending on how quickly the other disk becomes available after startup.
Change your desktop picture from Photos
- Open the Photos app.
- If you're using multiple displays, drag the Photos window over the desktop that you want to change.
- Control-click (or right-click) the image that you want to use.
- Select Share from the shortcut menu, then choose Set Desktop Picture from the submenu.
Change your desktop picture from the Finder
Free Hd Wallpapers For Mac
- From a Finder window or your desktop, locate the image file that you want to use.
- Control-click (or right-click) the file, then choose Set Desktop Picture from the shortcut menu. If you're using multiple displays, this changes the wallpaper of your primary display only.
Desktop Background Pictures For Mac
If you don't see Set Desktop Picture in the shortcut menu, you should see a submenu named Services instead. Choose Set Desktop Picture from there.
Learn more
- If Location Services is turned off, Dynamic Desktop images change throughout the day based on the time zone selected in Date & Time preferences, not based on your specific location.
- You can use these image formats for desktop pictures: PNG, JPEG, TIFF and PICT.
- For more information about the settings in Desktop preferences, click in the corner of the Desktop preferences window.