Jazz up that backdrop stat
If you have a nice 4k monitor, you’re likely going to want high-resolution wallpaper to show it off. The following are the best free HD wallpaper sites to update your desktop background.
If you read our previous article on what kind of setups our writers have for their home-based offices, you’ll notice that many of us use 4k monitors. And there’s no point in using low-resolution images on such beautiful displays. Browse the best wallpaper sites listed below to find high-quality images for your desktop.
Table of Contents
1. InterfaceLIFT
InterfaceLIFT offers stunning high-resolution wallpaper for widescreen and double-screen computers, as well as mobile devices (Android and iPhone). The site features thousands of great 4K desktop wallpapers.
The site also automatically detects your display resolution and shows you high-quality wallpapers matching that size. You can change the resolution (and select options for multiple screens) or sort by date, number of downloads, and user rating.
InterfaceLIFT has been offering beautiful wallpapers for a long time and has a large online community of people who make system themes, icon packs, and more.
Its only real drawback is that ads that make the site look busy and draw your attention away from the wallpaper images.
2. Wallhaven
Initially, Wallhaven was a project intended to improve or replace the now-defunct Wallbase. It’s known for offering high-resolution wallpapers that are 1080p or above. To use this site, browse the homepage or use the top list, random, and latest buttons to find a wallpaper you like.
It’s easy to find HD wallpapers similar to what you’re looking for thanks to the tags feature and Search for Similar options. You can go straight to their 4k tag to get started.
When you’ve selected a wallpaper, a Crop & Scale Download feature lets you pick the exact resolution you want or even enter a custom resolution.
The site has a massive community, an extensive database, and an infinite scroll that lets you view as many wallpapers as you want instead of clicking through several pages to see more options.
3. Simple Desktops
As evidenced by the name, this site offers simple 4K desktop wallpapers with minimal designs, unlike the cluttered offerings on other sites. They appeal to the eye, and it’s easy to find and download the wallpaper you want.
Simple Desktops is free to use, doesn’t have irritating ads, and offers high-resolution wallpapers, which you can crop to fit smaller displays.
The wallpapers include text snippets, patterns, or iconographic images, which look attractive without being distracting.
There are options for mobile devices, plus a Mac desktop app, and each image has some information about the artist who made it, too.
Related: Love minimalist wallpapers? Check out our article on Minimalist Desktop Wallpaper: Simple Designs You Can Download Right Now.
4. HD Wallpapers
This site offers high-definition photos, illustrations, and other desktop wallpapers that you can sort by latest, featured, popular, or browse based on color or category. When you’re ready to download, you can select your resolution (or download it for a mobile device or social media platform).
HD Wallpapers also lets you pick from Available Resolutions on the wallpaper’s download page if you don’t want to download in your native resolution.
The site is free and offers many 4K, HD, and 8K images, but it’s pretty ad-heavy. The site also makes you wait 10 seconds before the wallpaper is downloaded, so it may slow you down if you’re looking to download multiple HD wallpapers.
5. WallpaperStock
This site offers a huge amount of 4K desktop wallpapers in categories such as animals, cars, world, and more. The site also detects the display resolution for your desktop device, but you can select a different resolution (or device) when you download an image.
WallpaperStock is free to use and does feature a lot of ads, but it boasts thousands of free wallpapers that are worth a look. You can also subscribe to RSS updates for wallpaper categories you want, and if you give them your email, you’ll get the week’s top 10 wallpapers delivered straight to your inbox.
6. Deviant Art
DeviantArt offers thousands of original artworks that are hand-painted, hand-drawn, photo-edited, or computer-painted by amateur artists and other members.
You may be unable to use the search function to check for high-resolution wallpapers specifically like you can with other sites because Deviant Art’s interface isn’t structured to find them. You’ll find artwork that suits your personal preferences, which you can add to your computer as your desktop wallpaper.
7. Reddit
Reddit has a number of subreddits for high-resolution wallpapers, but the most popular is /r/wallpaper, which has almost two million members as of this writing. There is also a smaller subreddit that also features lots of high-resolution wallpapers named /r/wallpapers. Wallpapers range from the standard 1920×1080 up to 3840×2160, with some as large as 5120×2880.
Other great subreddits to find HD wallpapers for your 4k display include /r/WidescreenWallpaper/ for widescreen displays, /r/Verticalwallpapers/ if you’re using your display vertically, and /r/WQHD_Wallpaper/ for high-resolution screens.
8. WallpapersWide
If you need one more place to check for HD wallpapers, WallpapersWide is worth a look. There are dozens of categories of high-quality wallpapers on the left menu and a gallery view of those wallpapers on the right.
Just mouse over the wallpaper you want and select the arrow that appears. This will take you to the download page for the resolution of your screen. Or, click anywhere else on the wallpaper image to see the overview page where you can download any other available resolution.
In addition to categories, you can filter wallpapers by resolution or aspect ratio. This is one of the best high resolution wallpaper sites just due to the sheer numer of backgrounds available. While they are all free, each wallpaper does feature a small watermark in the corner.
Other Options for HD Wallpapers
Other sources for amazing high-resolution wallpapers are stock photo websites. Most of them include categories or sections of the site dedicated to wallpaper-worthy images.
The most popular of these sites with wallpaper sections include Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash.
These are photos taken by professional photographers so expect to see lots of nature, animal, and similar photos that are minimalist in design. If that’s what you’re looking for then these image sites may be the best place to start!
What sites do you get your 4K desktop wallpapers from? Share with us in a comment below.
