Tell me more ×
Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for enthusiasts and power users of the Android operating system. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 11 down vote favorite
4

On an Android phone the wallpaper spans across all of the home screens.

So what size should pictures be to fit properly as custom wallpapers?

share|improve this question
1  
Lifehacker just published an article about this. Found here: goo.gl/iWan – KenB Oct 8 '10 at 16:26
That article has a good explanation. FYI, the answer you marked as correct does not in fact give the correct dimensions. – Matt Oct 8 '10 at 20:17

2 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

Here are the correct wallpaper dimensions for the phones cited in Leimi's answer:

  • 480x320 for devices like the HTC Wildfire
  • 640x480 for devices like the HTC Hero or Legend
  • 960x800 for devices like the Nexus One
  • 960x854 for devices like the Motorola Droid

If you device isn't listed there is an easy way to figure out the dimensions of the wallpaper based on your particular phones resolution:

  • 2x the width and 1x the height

so for example my Moto Droid has a screen resolution of 480x854 so I want my wallpaper to be 2x the width (480 pixels) and 1x the height (854 pixels) = 960x854.

Here is a chart with most devices specs to help find the resolution.

Also check out this Lifehacker article that explains Android wallpaper sizing well.

share|improve this answer
1  
HTC Evo 4G is 960x800 – Dan Nov 18 '10 at 1:23
This does not work on T-Mobile G2 (800x480). I open a JPEG resized to 960x800 in the Gallery app and when trying to set it as wallpaper, I am forced to crop it. – florin Apr 14 '11 at 5:17
How many home screens do you use? Are you using an alternative homescreen app? I have seen it reported that 960x800 works just fine on some G2s so there might be some other reason it wants a different size. – Matt Apr 14 '11 at 22:30
1  
@florin Are you really forced to crop it, or merely asked to select what will be displayed? In other words, can you expand the selection rectangle to the full size of the image, thus performing no crop at all? – Matthew Read♦ Sep 9 '11 at 6:10
up vote 2 down vote

It depends on your screen resolution :

  • 480*320 for devices like the HTC Wildfire (QVGA)
  • 800*600 for devices like the HTC Hero or Legend (HVGA)
  • 960*800 for devices like the Nexus One (WVGA800)
  • 950*856 for devices like the Motorola Droid (WVGA854)

edit : in fact some of this dimensions work but are not the correct ones (they fit because of the same aspect ratio). Matt's answer is better !

share|improve this answer
2  
This is a thorough answer so I'll only comment to add one detail -- The basic formula for wallpaper resolution is screen height * 2x screen width. – Saiboogu Oct 8 '10 at 16:26
1  
These dimensions are not correct (except for the dimensions quoted for the Wildfire). Saiboogu's comment is correct. – Matt Oct 8 '10 at 20:14
Well.. my bad ! – Leimi Oct 9 '10 at 11:19
Np. Just curious, where did you get your numbers? Miscalc or do you know something about wallpapers I'm missing? – Matt Oct 9 '10 at 11:52
2  
I take this from an active wallpaper maker on a french Android forum. I don't know where my head was when I copied those values though : in fact his big screens values are 950*856 (wvga854) and 960*800 (wvga). In the end, his resolutions work aswell because they keep the same ratio as the correct ones (for example the 800*600 for the HTC has the same ratio as the 640x480). But to make something perfect I see that your values are the ones to take, so my bad :D – Leimi Oct 9 '10 at 14:24

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.