How to Use Wallhaven
Basic Search
The fastest way to find a wallpaper on Wallhaven is to type what you want into the search bar at wallhaven.pics/search and press Enter. Keywords can be subjects, art styles, moods, or specific objects.
Good starting keywords: nature, anime, space, minimal, dark, abstract, cyberpunk, landscape, gaming, cars.
Advanced Filters
Wallhaven's real power is in its filter system. The advanced search exposes every parameter — accessible from the filter panel next to the search bar or via URL parameters.
| Filter | How to Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tag combine | Add + between tags in the search field | anime+dark+4k |
| Tag exclude | Prefix a tag with minus | nature -snow |
| Category | Toggle General / Anime / People checkboxes | Anime only |
| Purity | Toggle SFW / Sketchy / NSFW (account needed for latter two) | SFW only |
| Sort | Select from Date Added, Relevance, Views, Favorites, Toplist | Top of all time |
| Toplist range | Set time window for toplist sorting | Top this month |
Resolution Filter
To find wallpapers that match your screen exactly, set the resolution filter. You can specify an exact resolution (e.g., 2560x1440) or filter by aspect ratio (e.g., 16x9).
Finding Your Screen Resolution
Windows: Right-click desktop → Display Settings → look for "Display resolution".
macOS: System Settings → Displays → look for the resolution listed.
Linux: Run xrandr in terminal and look for the asterisk (*) next to the current resolution.
Common Resolutions on Wallhaven
| Resolution | Common Use | Filter Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 × 1080 | Full HD monitors and laptops | resolutions=1920x1080 |
| 2560 × 1440 | QHD gaming monitors | resolutions=2560x1440 |
| 3840 × 2160 | 4K UHD displays | resolutions=3840x2160 |
| 2560 × 1080 | Ultrawide 21:9 | resolutions=2560x1080 |
| 1080 × 1920 | Mobile portrait | ratios=9x16 |
Color Filter
Wallhaven can filter results by the dominant color in each image. This is useful for matching a desktop theme, finding wallpapers that complement your system's accent color, or building a cohesive multi-monitor setup.
How to Use the Color Filter
In the advanced search, find the color picker. Click it to open a palette, or type a hex code directly into the field. Wallhaven will return wallpapers where that color (or a close neighbor) is the most prominent in the image's color histogram.
Color Filter Tips
Matching an accent color: Copy the hex code from your OS color settings (Windows accent color, macOS highlight color) and paste into the Wallhaven color field.
Sparse results: Color matching is not exact. If you get too few results for a specific hex, try a slightly lighter or darker shade. Colors are indexed in buckets, so shifting a few steps along the spectrum may unlock many more results.
Combine with keywords: A color filter plus a keyword is powerful — "nature" + forest green returns specifically green-dominant nature wallpapers rather than all nature images.
Tag System
Every wallpaper on Wallhaven is tagged by the community. Tags describe subjects, art styles, color themes, moods, resolutions, series names, and more. The tag database has thousands of distinct entries, making Wallhaven searchable at a granularity no algorithmic index can match.
Combining Tags
Use the + operator between tags in the search bar to require all listed tags: anime+dark+4k returns wallpapers that match all three. This stacks filters multiplicatively, significantly narrowing results.
Excluding Tags
Prefix a tag with a minus sign to exclude it: nature -snow returns nature wallpapers with no snow. Useful for filtering out seasonal themes, specific styles, or content types you dislike.
Tag ID Search
Each tag on Wallhaven has an internal ID. Searching by ID (via the API or URL) gives an exact match rather than a text search match, which is useful when a tag name is ambiguous. Tag IDs are visible in the tag URL when you click a tag on a wallpaper page.
How to Download a Wallpaper
Downloading from Wallhaven is straightforward and requires no account for SFW content:
- Open wallhaven.pics and search or browse to find a wallpaper you like.
- Click the thumbnail to open the full wallpaper page.
- Click the download button (top-right of the image, or in the sidebar). The file downloads at full resolution in its original format.
- Alternatively, right-click the full-size image and choose "Save image as" to download directly.
Creating an Account
A Wallhaven account is free and unlocks additional features beyond basic browsing. To register, visit wallhaven.pics and click the Register button. You need only a username, email address, and password — no payment details are collected.
With a registered account you can: save wallpapers to favourites, build named collections, access Sketchy content (opt-in), access NSFW content (opt-in), upload your own wallpapers, generate an API key for programmatic access, and participate in the community forum.
Collections
Registered users can create personal wallpaper collections — named sets of favourited images. Collections can be kept private or made public and shared with other users or embedded on other sites.
To create a collection: favourite a wallpaper, then click the "Add to collection" button that appears. Name the collection and optionally set it to public. Other users can follow public collections to receive updates when new wallpapers are added.
The Wallhaven API also supports fetching collection contents by collection ID, useful for building apps that sync with a curated list.
Using Wallhaven on Mobile
Wallhaven's website is fully responsive and usable on smartphones and tablets. To find wallpapers sized for a mobile screen, filter by aspect ratio 9x16 (portrait) or search for "mobile wallpaper". Many users also set 1080×1920 or 1440×2560 as minimum resolutions for phone-sized results.
Downloading on mobile: long-press the full-resolution image and choose "Save to Photos" or "Download image". The file saves to your device's photo library or downloads folder depending on your mobile OS and browser settings.