3 Ways to Make Any Picture Fit as a Wallpaper on Android

Quick Tips

• Crop the image to the resolution of your smartphone’s display.
• Vertically extend a landscape image using Snapseed.
• You can use an app like SquarePic to resize an image with borders to fit the same as a wallpaper.

Method 1: Crop Wallpaper to Fit Resolution

If your Android device isn’t letting you select a specific part of the image that you want as a wallpaper, then you can manually crop the wallpaper and select the desired area. However, you would want to know the display resolution of your Android device to size the crop selection perfectly.

You can view the specifications of your device from Wikipedia and note down the resolution of the display. We’ll take the OnePlus Pro as an example.

Step 1: Note down the resolution.

Step 2: Now, use a tool to crop and resize the image. You can use an online image editor or a local tool. PhotoscapeX is a free tool we would recommend.

Download PhotoScape X on Windows

Step 3: You can now use the crop option and set the dimensions as per the resolution.

The resolution of your device may exceed the size of the image you are trying to crop. In such cases, you can divide the resolution by a factor to keep the dimensions within the limit. While most tools help you automatically select a suitable aspect ratio, here’s how to manually change it.

Tips to Manually Change Resolution of Wallpaper

• Determine the current resolution of your image. Let’s say your image is 1920 x 1080 pixels.
• Calculate the aspect ratio of your desired resolution. For example, if you want to reduce the resolution by half, you can calculate it as follows: New Width = Current Width/2 and New Height = Current Height/2. Choose a factor that keeps the new height and width within the limit.
• In this example, the new resolution would be 960×540 pixels.
• If the resolution of the device is less than the size of the image you are trying to crop, you can multiply the crop resolution by a factor to perfectly fit your screen.

Select the area and save the cropped image, and you’re ready to go!

Method 2: Extend Landscape Wallpaper: Convert an Image to Phone Wallpaper Size

There’s a caveat with the method we just explained. You miss out on many details when you crop an image since you only retain a part of it for the wallpaper. Here’s how you can vertically extend the image to fit more details of it in the wallpaper.

If your landscape image has consistent details of a single color at the top/bottom, you can extend the wallpaper using Snapseed. Give it a try using the steps below!

Step 1: Install Snapseed from the Google Play Store.

Step 2: Open the Snapseed app and open the photo you want to set as the wallpaper.

Step 3: Tap on the Tools option. Tap on Expand.

Step 4: You can extend the wallpaper vertically. The algorithm will try to replicate details to blend the extension with the image. For best results, ensure that the region you are extending has a consistent color and simple elements.

You can use the Expand option multiple times until you receive the desired height.

Here’s a ‘before and after’ comparison. The extended image will suit better as a wallpaper.

Tip: You can use the Healing tool on Snapseed, or the Magic Eraser on Google Photos (if you have subscribed to Google One) to remove any unnecessary elements that occur in the extended portion of the image.

However, if your image isn’t simple and you don’t see usable results with Snapseed, here’s another workaround.

Method 3: Add Borders and Make a Wallpaper That Fits Screen Perfectly

You can use an app to resize an image with borders to fit the same as a wallpaper. This can help you retain more parts of the image.

Step 1: Download the SquarePic app on your Android device.

Step 2: Open the image with the SquarePic app. Tap on Layout, and select a layout that increases the size of the image vertically.

Step 3: Zoom out, or zoom in until as per your preference. Tap on Save.

As you can see, you’re retaining a good part of the image when used as wallpaper.

Also Read: Download cool Samsung Galaxy S24 series wallpapers (4K)