How To Change Xbox Background? Detailed Guide

Microsoft’s consoles have a plethora of customization options. One of these features allows you to change the Xbox background right with or without third-party apps.

On top of changing the background, the Xbox gives you further freedom to personalize your interface. These options are in the same menu, which you can find on the Xbox One or the Xbox Series interfaces.

Changing Xbox Background

There’re various ways of changing your Xbox Series or Xbox One background. Here’s the rundown:

Use a game screenshot as a background.
Use game achievement art as background.
Choose a solid color and game art.
Upload a wallpaper using a USB drive.
Download a wallpaper via a third-party app.
Download a wallpaper via the console’s browser.

We’re sharing each option in detail. Either option will make the background image appear on your Xbox’s home screen.

Set a Game Screenshot as Xbox Background

The first option introduces the menu you’ll use for most of the options on the list, the My background menu.

Here’re the steps:

Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
Select Profile & system.
Select Settings.
Go to General.
Select Personalization.
Select My color & background.
Select Screenshot.
Hover over to the screenshot you’d like as background.
Select More Actions.
Select Background.
Select Set background.

Select a Solid Color as Xbox Background

Alternatively, you may want to select a color, not an image, as your background. These would be the steps:

Press the Xbox button.
Go to Profile & system.
Go to Settings.
Select General.
Select Personalization.
Select My color & background.
Select Solid color and gamer art.
Choose a color and press Ok.

Here, you can also add game art as background. You may choose from recently played games. It’s the same options you’d see on the Achievements menu.

Use an Image on Your Usb Drive as Xbox Background

The last option is the one you may already know, as it’s pretty straightforward. You’d copy an image you like from your PC to a USB drive and then plug the drive on the Xbox to use the image.

Here’re the steps:

Plug a USB drive into your PC.
Copy the image you like from your PC to the USB. We recommend using “.jpg” files.
Unplug the USB.
Plug the drive on the Xbox.
Press the Xbox button on your controller.
Go to Profile and system.
Go to Settings.
Go to System.
Select Storage.
Hover over to your USB on storage, select it and press View contents.
Select your image.
Select Set as background.

When choosing an image for your Xbox from your PC, remember there’re two requisites:

The size must be less than 3MB.
The resolution must be 1920 x 1080p, unless you’re playing on a 2K or a 4K TV.

Set a Game Acchievement Art as Background

The next option is using achievement art as background. You unlock these images when you gain trophies and complete achievements while playing games.

Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
Select Profile & system.
Select Settings.
Go to General.
Select Personalization.
Select My color & background.
Select Achievement art.
Select Gaming on the upper options and Achievements on the left-side options.
Select a game from your achievement list.
Select the achievement with the art you want.
Choose Set as background.

How to Change Xbox Background

The next option is browsing for the exact image you want. The best way is using a third-party app, one you can download to the Xbox from the Xbox store.

We recommend TMX, as it’s free, legal, and has many options. The app offers user-created themes for Xbox consoles. You can browse, select the one you like, and set it as your dashboard background.

Here’re the steps:

On your home screen, go to the Store.
Search TMX on the search bar.
Download the TMX app.
Open the app.
Browse for the capture you want.
Select the one you like.
Open Set as Background.
After you select the background, the app may display advertising. You can ignore it. It won’t happen again unless you change the background.

Download a Wallpaper via the Console’s Browser

You can also use the console’s built-in browser, Bing, to find wallpapers.

On your home screen, open Microsoft Bing.
Search the web for wallpaper. You can type the name of any game, character, movie, or show and then “wallpaper” (as in “Halo wallpapers”). You can also search for “dynamic wallpapers for moving backgrounds”.
Hoover to the image you want, and select it.
Press the three dots icon (“…”) at the lower right.
Select Set as wallpaper.

You could also find an image while browsing on the Microsoft Edge app. You may have probably used it to manage things like your Xbox Game Pass subscription.

FAQ

Can I Remove the Xbox Background?

You can remove the background at any moment. If you do so without adding another image, it will go to the console’s default color (gray), or to the color you choose.

Here’re the steps:

Go to Profile & system.
Select Settings.
Go to General.
Go to Personalization.
Go to My color & background.
Select Remove custom background.

Are There More Background Customization Options?

There’re additional customization options you may want to tweak

First, there’s a Theme & motion menu within My & color and background. It allows you to select an overall theme and enable or disable Smooth transitions.