How to transfer your Wallpaper Engine library to Mac
A screen-by-screen walkthrough of moving your existing Wallpaper Engine scene library from a Windows PC to a Mac, over local Wi-Fi, with a free companion app and a 4-character pairing code. No cloud, no account, no re-purchase.
Vivid Walls ships a free Windows companion app that transfers an existing Wallpaper Engine library to a Mac over local Wi-Fi using a 4-character pairing code, no cloud upload, no account, no re-purchase. The whole process, from install to first wallpaper applied, typically takes about ten minutes.
We also wrote this up as a step-by-step walkthrough of the whole transfer, covering what to have ready before you start, the local network transfer itself, and what to check when a scene does not show up on the Mac.
What you'll need
- An Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) running macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later, with Vivid Walls installed from the Mac App Store.
- A Windows PC with your existing Wallpaper Engine library on it, Steam Workshop subscriptions and all.
- Both devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Home networks work reliably; some public or guest networks block the local discovery this relies on.
The whole process, install to first wallpaper applied, usually takes about ten minutes. Nothing is uploaded anywhere: the transfer runs directly between your Mac and PC over your own network.
Step by step
Install Vivid Walls on your Mac
Open the Mac App Store listing, download it free, and launch it. A 3-day trial unlocks the full library; $9.99 keeps it after that, no subscription. Grant Screen Recording permission if macOS asks, it's used to render the wallpaper behind your desktop icons.
Download the Companion app on your PC
On the Windows machine that has your Wallpaper Engine library, go to vividwalls.app and download the free Vivid Walls Companion (.exe). Windows SmartScreen may flag it as unrecognized since it's a small independent app, click More info, then Run anyway.
Put both devices on the same Wi-Fi
The Companion finds your Mac using local Bonjour / mDNS discovery. Connect both the Mac and the PC to the same Wi-Fi network before continuing. If they're on separate networks (one on Wi-Fi, one on Ethernet through a different router, or a VPN active on either), pairing won't find the other device.
Pair with the 4-character code
Launch the Companion app on your PC. It auto-detects your Wallpaper Engine library and shows a 4-character code on screen. On your Mac, press Cmd+Shift+P (or choose "Import from PC" from the menu), then type that code in. This establishes a direct, secure connection between the two devices.
Choose what to transfer
Select individual scenes, or hit Import All to bring your whole library across. A progress bar tracks each file. Most libraries, even a few hundred scenes, finish in a handful of minutes on a normal home connection; very large libraries or slower Wi-Fi will take longer.
Apply a wallpaper
Your imported scenes show up in the Vivid Walls library grid on your Mac right away. Click any one and it becomes your live desktop background instantly, no restart needed.
There is also a step by step guide in the Steam Community Wallpaper Engine hub: Running your Wallpaper Engine library on a Mac.
Troubleshooting
The Mac and PC can't find each other
This is almost always a network issue rather than an app issue. Confirm both devices show the same Wi-Fi network name. Some routers isolate wireless clients from each other for security ("AP isolation" or "client isolation"), which blocks the local discovery this relies on, check your router's settings if you control it, or try a personal hotspot as a workaround on unfamiliar networks (a coffee shop or office Wi-Fi, for example). A VPN active on either device can also interfere; disconnect it and try again.
Windows SmartScreen won't let the Companion run
This is expected for a smaller independent app that hasn't built up SmartScreen's reputation database yet. Click More info, then Run anyway. The download link only ever comes from vividwalls.app.
The transfer is slow
Transfer speed depends on your Wi-Fi, not on Vivid Walls. Moving both devices closer to the router, or connecting the PC via Ethernet if possible, speeds things up noticeably for large libraries.
Some scenes didn't come through, or don't render correctly
Scene format coverage is where the most active development happens, since the Workshop catalog spans years of scenes with different styles and complexity. If something is missing or renders wrong after import, send the scene name or Workshop link to support@vividwalls.app, reported scenes get looked at directly and patched in updates.
What transfers, and what to expect
Vivid Walls plays the Wallpaper Engine scene format natively (particle effects, visual effects, animated characters), and also plays video, web, and GIF wallpapers. It does not claim every single wallpaper in every library renders identically to Windows on day one, scene format support is broad but still actively expanding. What does transfer is the actual file: nothing is re-encoded, re-compressed, or altered in transit, and nothing is stored anywhere except on your own Mac and PC. For the bigger picture of running Wallpaper Engine on Mac, including where scene support still falls short, see the full answer page.
A sense of proportion helps for setting expectations before you import. Filtering the Steam Workshop by wallpaper type gives 1,561,362 scene items, 1,187,365 video items, and 101,223 web items, out of 2,865,391 published in total. Scene and video are the two formats most libraries are built from; web wallpapers, the format with the most gaps on macOS today, are the smallest of the three by a wide margin. Those are counts of Wallpaper Engine's catalog, not a measurement of how much of it renders correctly on a Mac, which is not a number anyone has published. Your Steam Workshop subscriptions also stay exactly where they are: the transfer copies files to your Mac and changes nothing on your Steam account.
Sources: Steam Workshop item counts, unfiltered and filtered by scene, video, and web type. Figures checked 2026-08-20.
Vivid Walls is live on the Mac App Store. Free to download, 3-day trial, then $9.99 once to unlock the full library. The Windows Companion is free.
Common questions about the transfer
Do I have to buy Wallpaper Engine again, or re-buy my wallpapers, to use them on a Mac?
No. The transfer copies the scene files that are already on your PC and changes nothing on your Steam account, so your Workshop subscriptions stay exactly where they are. Vivid Walls itself is a free download on the Mac App Store with a 3-day trial of the full library, then a one-time $9.99 unlock, no subscription. The Windows Companion app is free.
Where does Wallpaper Engine store the wallpapers that get transferred?
In your Steam library folder, under steamapps\workshop\content\431960, with one numbered folder per Workshop item. The Companion app locates that folder for you, so you do not need to find it by hand. If you would rather copy the folders yourself or keep a backup first, we wrote up where Wallpaper Engine stores your wallpapers and how to back them up.
Does anything get uploaded to the cloud, and do I need an account?
No to both. The transfer runs directly between the PC and the Mac over your own Wi-Fi network using local Bonjour discovery. Nothing is uploaded to a server, nothing is re-encoded or altered in transit, and there is no account to create on either side.
Can I transfer a Wallpaper Engine library without a Windows PC?
The transfer needs the PC that holds the library, because that is where the files live. Without one you can still use Vivid Walls: a set of animated wallpapers is included and loads the first time you open the app, and it plays your own video, web and GIF files. What it cannot do is fetch Steam Workshop items on its own, because Workshop downloads require the Wallpaper Engine app.
How long does the transfer take, and does library size matter?
About ten minutes end to end for a typical setup, from installing the app to the first wallpaper applied. The transfer itself depends on your Wi-Fi rather than on the app: most libraries, including ones with a few hundred scenes, finish in a handful of minutes, and very large libraries or slower networks take longer. Moving both devices closer to the router, or putting the PC on Ethernet, helps noticeably.
The Mac and the PC cannot find each other. What should I check?
This is almost always the network rather than the app. Confirm both devices show the same Wi-Fi network name, and disconnect any VPN on either device. Some routers isolate wireless clients from one another, listed as AP isolation or client isolation, which blocks the local discovery that pairing relies on. A phone hotspot is a reliable workaround on a network you do not control.
A scene did not come across, or it renders incorrectly. What now?
Send the scene name or its Steam Workshop link to support@vividwalls.app. Scene format coverage is where the most active development happens, since the Workshop catalog spans years of scenes of very different complexity, and reported scenes get looked at directly and patched in updates.
Keep reading
- Wallpaper Engine for Mac: the full answer → Why there's no official Mac version and what your options are.
- The complete Mac guide → How Vivid Walls renders scene files under the hood.
- Support and compatibility reports → Report a scene that doesn't render right.
- Live Wallpaper on macOS Monterey: What Actually Works →