How to Use Video and Image Backgrounds

One of the quickest ways to make Atmos feel personal is to add a background. A single visual profile can change the mood of your entire desktop, especially when it is paired with ambient audio or a matching cursor setup.

Atmos supports both image and video backgrounds, but it does not treat them in exactly the same way. This guide explains how background profiles work, how Atmos decides what becomes active, and what changes when you enable or disable backgrounds.

What counts as a background in Atmos

In Atmos, a profile contributes a background when it provides visual content for the desktop layer.

That includes:

• image files
• video files that are configured to contribute visuals

Regular audio-only files do not count as backgrounds.

This matters because Atmos separates the idea of an uploaded file from the role that file plays in your setup. A profile can contribute:

• audio
• background visuals
• both

That is why some uploaded video files appear in both the audio side and the background side of Atmos.

The fastest way to add a background

To add your first background:

1. Open Atmos from the menu bar.
2. Go to Upload.
3. Choose an image or video file.
4. If the file is a video, decide whether it should act as background only or as both audio and background.
5. Finish the upload flow and press Add.

Once the upload is complete, Atmos creates a background-capable profile and saves it into your library.

If it is the first visual item you just added, Atmos can also make it the active background automatically.

How image backgrounds work

An image file is the simplest kind of background in Atmos.

When you upload an image:

• Atmos marks it as an image profile
• the profile contributes background visuals
• the file becomes eligible for the Background section in the library

When an image background becomes active, Atmos creates a desktop-level window and renders the image inside it using proportional scaling. That gives you a full-screen visual layer that sits behind your normal app windows.

For users, the important point is simple: image backgrounds are stable, lightweight, and easy to use. If you want a clean visual atmosphere without motion, this is the most straightforward option.

How video backgrounds work

Video backgrounds are more dynamic, but they also come with an extra decision.

When you upload a video, Atmos lets you choose one of three modes:

• audio only
• background only
• both audio and background

If a video contributes background visuals, it becomes eligible for the Background section just like an image profile.

When Atmos applies a video as wallpaper, it uses a looping video player behind the desktop. The visual layer is muted in this wallpaper mode, even if the same file also contributes audio somewhere else in your setup.

That means Atmos handles visual playback and audio playback as related but separate concerns.

Why video wallpapers are muted

When a video is used as a wallpaper, Atmos plays it as a desktop background layer with audio muted. This is intentional.

The app avoids treating the wallpaper layer itself as the source of sound. Instead, Atmos uses the shared player system for sound playback when audio is meant to be active.

This keeps the system cleaner because:

• the desktop wallpaper layer stays focused on visuals
• the shared player remains responsible for track playback
• background visuals can be turned on or off without breaking audio logic

If you want a single video file to drive both sound and visuals, use the both mode during upload. Atmos will then treat the file as contributing to both systems, but the visual wallpaper layer itself still remains muted.

What happens after you add a background

Once your upload is finished, Atmos saves the profile in the library and then checks whether one of the newly added items contributes background visuals.

If it finds one, Atmos can set that profile as the active background immediately.

That means the app does not just store the visual file for later. It can immediately connect it to your current setup so you see the result right away.

This is especially helpful during first-time use, because you do not have to go back into the library and manually assign the background unless you want to switch to a different one.

How the Background section works in the library

Once a profile contributes visuals, it appears in the Background section of the Library area.

From there, you can:

• expand the background section
• see which background is active
• switch to a different background profile
• rename or edit a profile
• remove uploaded backgrounds later if needed

This section is separate from the Audio section even though some video profiles can belong to both.

That separation is important because Atmos is designed to let you change the visual side of your setup without forcing you to change the audio side at the same time.

What the background toggle actually does

The background toggle in Atmos does more than hide a preview.

When backgrounds are disabled:

• Atmos restores the normal wallpaper state by removing its desktop layer
• the active background selection stays remembered
• the profile still exists in your library

When backgrounds are enabled again:

• Atmos checks the current active background profile
• if a valid visual profile is selected, it applies it again automatically

This means the toggle behaves like a temporary visual power switch, not like a delete action.

That design is useful if you want to keep your setup saved but occasionally return to a normal desktop appearance.

How Atmos chooses the active background

Atmos keeps track of the current background profile by storing the active background profile ID in its saved state.

When you manually choose a background in the library, Atmos updates that active profile and applies it immediately if backgrounds are enabled.

When the app relaunches later, it can restore the same visual selection again as long as:

• the background feature is enabled
• the app is not globally disabled
• the selected profile still exists

This persistence is one of the reasons Atmos works well as a long-term desktop layer instead of just a temporary effect.

Why your background may disappear

There are a few normal situations where an Atmos background can stop showing:

• you disabled the Background section
• the app was globally disabled
• the active background profile was deleted
• the selected file path no longer exists
• the app reset its state

In those cases, the behavior is usually intentional rather than broken. Atmos prefers restoring the normal wallpaper state over leaving behind a stale or invalid desktop layer.

How backgrounds interact with app-wide disable behavior

Atmos has an app-wide disable state that can be triggered by certain license conditions or manual app control.

When the app becomes disabled, Atmos shuts down several active systems together, including:

• audio playback
• wallpaper backgrounds
• cursor skins
• widgets
• cursor effects

When the app returns to an active state, Atmos can restore the previously enabled systems again, including the background if one was active before.

This is important because it means backgrounds are part of a larger coordinated environment, not a standalone wallpaper utility.

How previews fit into the experience

Inside the main Atmos interface, the app can show a preview of the active background. If the current background is a video, Atmos uses a muted looping preview so you can see motion inside the compact interface without hearing duplicate sound.

That preview is separate from the actual desktop wallpaper layer, but it reflects the same background selection.

For users, the key point is that Atmos gives you a way to inspect the current visual atmosphere without leaving the menu bar interface.

Choosing between image and video backgrounds

If you are not sure which kind to use, the simplest rule is this:

• choose an image when you want stability, simplicity, and low visual movement
• choose a video when you want motion and atmosphere

Images are often better for:

• minimal desktops
• long work sessions
• low-distraction visual setups

Videos are often better for:

• immersive setups
• animated scenes
• pairing visual motion with ambient audio

Neither one is inherently better. The right choice depends on how much presence you want the desktop to have.

A practical first-background workflow

If you are trying backgrounds for the first time, this sequence works well:

1. Start with a single still image.
2. Confirm that it appears correctly in the Background section.
3. Toggle backgrounds off and on once so you understand how the switch behaves.
4. Try a video background after that if you want a more animated setup.
5. Only use both mode on a video when you specifically want one file to power both the visual and audio parts of Atmos.

This makes it easier to understand each behavior before combining them.

Final thoughts

Backgrounds are one of the most visible parts of Atmos, but the system behind them is more thoughtful than it first appears. The app distinguishes between images and videos, tracks whether a profile contributes visuals, remembers which background is active, and cleanly restores the desktop when visuals are turned off.

Once you understand that structure, switching between calm still images and immersive video wallpapers becomes much more intuitive.

In the next tutorial, we will go deeper into the special case that makes Atmos especially flexible: how video profiles work when one file can contribute audio, visuals, or both.