Wallpaper on the smartphone screen is the first thing that catches the eye when you turn on the device. Xiaomi is famous for a variety of built-in wallpaper, from minimalist gradients to dynamic ones. 3D-But few people think about where the company gets these images and how they get into your Redmi gallery, POCO In this article, we’ll reveal all the sources of wallpaper for Xiaomi devices – from official partnerships with designers to hidden features. MIUI, which allow you to generate unique background images directly on your phone.
You will be surprised, but not all wallpapers are created manually: some of them are generated using artificial intelligence, and some come from closed collections, available only to owners of flagship models. We will also tell you how to download wallpapers from hidden folders of the system where non-activated background images are stored, and how to create your own wallpapers with Super Wallpapers effects or AOD (Always-On Display).
If you’ve ever wondered why your Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a wallpaper with Martian landscapes, and why it’s so beautiful. POCO F5 — The answer lies in the company’s content segmentation policy, and then you will learn how Xiaomi distributes wallpaper between budget and premium devices and whether these restrictions can be circumvented.
Xiaomi Wallpaper Official Sources: Partnerships and Exclusive Collections
Xiaomi’s smartphone wallpapers are mostly from three key sources: the company’s own design studio, partnerships with artists and photographers, and licensing agreements with media platforms.
First, Xiaomi has its own division. MIUI Design Team, which develops exclusive wallpaper for flagship series (Mi, Mix) and special themed collections. 12S And this team, with the skin or metal textures, is the one that's created, and they're working closely with the engineers to make sure that the wallpaper is optimally displayed on the wallpaper. AMOLED-screen-in-screen HDR10+.
Secondly, the company is actively engaged with independent artists and studios around the world. MIUI 14 there was a collection of wallpaper from the Chinese illustrator Loish (known for his works in the anime style), and in the MIUI 13 were added abstract work by TeamLab. These wallpapers are usually marked with the author's watermark and are only available for a limited time.
- 🎨 Collaboration with artists: Xiaomi regularly holds competitions among designers, whose winners get the opportunity to place their work in the official wallpaper gallery "MIUI Wallpaper Design Challenge, which added more than 50 new wallpapers to the system.
- 📸 Licensed photos: Some landscape wallpapers (mountains, oceans, cities) are bought from stock sites such as Shutterstock or Getty Images, adapted to screen resolution and optimized to save battery life.
- 🎬 Media partnerships: Wallpapers with film or TV footage (such as the Avatar or Lord of the Rings collection) are made available through agreements with Disney, Warner Bros. and other studios, usually for premieres and available for a limited period of time.
Interestingly, Xiaomi sometimes adds wallpaper that it never officially announces, for example, in firmware for the Chinese market, you can find hidden collections with traditional Chinese motifs (hieroglyphs, guhua landscapes) that do not fall into the global versions. MIUI.
AI-Wallpaper generation: how Xiaomi uses neural networks to create backgrounds
With the exit. MIUI 14 Xiaomi has started to actively implement generative artificial intelligence to create wallpaper, which allows you to generate unique background images directly on the device, without having to download them from the Internet.
It's based on a mobile-friendly Stable Diffusion model that's integrated into the Themes app and allows you to create wallpapers based on textual descriptions, like, you can type in the phrase, "futuristic city on Mars, neon lights, 4K", The neural network will generate an image in a few seconds, and this feature is available on flagship models (Xiaomi). 13/14 series, Mix Fold 3) It requires an internet connection to process the request on Xiaomi servers.
In addition, in MIUI have built-in AI-filters that convert your photos into stylized wallpaper, like uploading your photos and applying the watercolor or cyberpunk effect, which automatically adjust to the screen resolution and support Always-On Display (AOD).
- 🤖 Advantages AI-Wallpaper: Unique: each user can create wallpapers that others don't. Adaptability: neural network takes into account the color gamut of the interface MIUI Traffic savings: Wallpapers are generated on Xiaomi servers, but cached locally so as not to re-download them.
- ⚠️ Restrictions: Not available on all devices (requires Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset)+ Quality depends on the prompt: inaccurate descriptions can produce strange results, generated wallpaper takes up more space than standard (up to 10-15 MB per piece).
It's important: AI-wallpaper MIUI They do not use user data to train the neural network – all requests are anonymized and deleted after generation. XDA Developers in 2023.
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If generated AI-The wallpaper looks blurry, try adding words to the prompt "8K", "It's ultra-detailed or hyper-realistic. It's going to force the neural network to increase the detail.
Hidden wallpaper in MIUI: Where to look for non-activated background images
Many users do not know what is in the firmware MIUI There are dozens of wallpapers that are not displayed in the standard gallery, and these images are used for testing or are intended for other regions, but they can be removed and installed manually.
All wallpaper in Xiaomi is stored in the system folder along the way:
/system/media/theme/default_wallpapers/However, access to it requires root rights or use. ADB. A simpler way is to download wallpaper from this folder through special applications, for example:
- MIUI Hidden Wallpapers (available on Google Play).
- WallpapersCraft has a base of wallpapers from Xiaomi firmware of different versions.
- Xiaomi.eu Wallpapers is a collection of wallpapers from the custom firmware community.
The wallpaper can also be extracted from APK-For example, if you download a theme file with the.mtz extension (like Nature.mtz), you can rename it.zip and open it with the archiver. Inside, you'll find a wallpaper folder with high-resolution images.
| Wallpaper type | Where they're stored | How to extract | Permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (gradients, abstractions) | /system/media/theme/default_wallpapers/ | Through root or ADB | 1080×2400 (FHD+) |
| Super Wallpapers (3D-effects) | /system/priv-app/MiuiSuperWallpaper/ | Requires unlocking the loader | 1440×3200 (QHD+) |
| Wallpaper for AOD (Always-On) | /system/media/theme/aod_wallpapers/ | Through apps like MIUI Hidden Wallpapers | 1080×2400 (optimized OLED) |
| Topics from MIUI Themes Store | Stored in the cloud, downloaded on request | Download.mtz and unpack | Depends on the topic (up to) 4K) |
Caution: changing system files can cause crashes. If you're not sure what you're doing, you'd better use ready-made collections from Google Play or forums like this. XDA.
How to open a hidden wallpaper without root?
Super Wallpapers and Dynamic Wallpapers: Technology Behind the Scenes
Super Wallpapers is a Xiaomi brand feature presented in the MIUI 12.5 This wallpaper uses the paralax effect and reacts to the tilt of the device, creating the illusion of depth. For example, on the wallpaper with the planet Earth, when you turn the phone, the continents move, and the clouds float?
The technology is based on multi-layered 3D-And each layer, like the sky, the clouds, the surface of the planet, has its own speed, which creates a paralax effect:
- 🌍 High-resolution textures: Images of planets or abstract objects are drawn in resolution 8K, And then scale under the screen.
- 🎮 Game Engine: It's rendering using a Unity engine that's mobile-friendly. It allows you to process it. 3D-objects without heavy loading of the processor.
- 🔄 Gyroscope and accelerometer: Data from sensors are used to calculate the angle of inclination and displacement of layers.
Dynamic wallpapers (e.g., Living Universe or Ocean Wave) work on the same principle, but instead of using the same method. 3D-And the models use animated sprites, for example, the wallpaper with the ocean has several frames of waves that are smoothly interchangeable.
Unfortunately, Super Wallpapers are not available on all devices, and here are the minimum requirements:
- Processor: Snapdragon 865 or later (or Dimensity 1000)+).
- RAM: At least 6 GB.
- Screen: AMOLED 90Hz-enabled+.
- Version. MIUI: 12.5 or higher.
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Super Wallpapers consume more power than static wallpapers, but Xiaomi has optimized their work: animations pause when the phone is on the table, and resume when moving.
How Xiaomi distributes wallpaper between budget and flagship devices
If you compare the wallpaper collections on the Redmi Note 12 and Xiaomi 13 Pro, you’ll notice a difference: budget models typically have fewer exclusive backgrounds, and dynamic wallpapers are often absent, due to Xiaomi’s content segmentation policy.
The company divides wallpaper into three categories:
- Basic: Available on all devices (gradients, simple abstractions, low-resolution landscapes).
- Premium: Exclusive wallpaper for flagships (3D-effects, works by famous artists, Super Wallpapers).
- Regional: Wallpapers tied to a specific market (e.g. Chinese motifs for China firmware) ROM).
The distribution of wallpaper depends on:
- 📱 Device models: Flagships get more exclusives.For example, Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 has unique wallpaper optimized for foldable screen.
- 🌐 Firmware Region: In Global Versions MIUI There are often no Chinese-related wallpapers.
- 🔄 Versions MIUI: New wallpaper first appears in beta versions of firmware, and then spread to stable builds.
This limitation can be circumvented in several ways:
- Install custom firmware (e.g. Xiaomi.eu) where all wallpaper is unlocked.
- Download wallpaper from third-party sources (see the section on hidden wallpaper).
- Use it. ADB-Premium Wallpaper Involuntary Activation Teams (requires technical skills).
Download APK flagship-themed|Install a patch through Magisk (requires root)|Use the application MIUI Hidden Wallpapers|Find wallpaper on forums (for example, 4PDA or XDA)-->
Creating your own wallpaper for Xiaomi: tools and life hacks
If you are not satisfied with standard wallpaper, you can create your own - with all the chips in mind. MIUI. Here are a few ways:
1. Use the built-in editor in Topics:
Open the Themes app.
- Go to the section My Wallpaper → Make wallpaper.
- Here you can:
Apply filters to your photos (e.g., “neon” or “watercolor”).
- Generate wallpaper by text description (AI-function).
- Set up Always-On Display (AOD) personalized.
2. Create Super Wallpaper manually:
- You will need Adobe Photoshop or GIMP and template from Xiaomi (can be found on GitHub).
Wallpaper should consist of several layers (background, foreground, mask for paralax).
- Export the finished project in.zip format and download it through MIUI Theme Editor (requires developer registration).
3. Use third-party applications:
Wallpaper Engine (paid, but with a free trial version) - allows you to create animated wallpaper with support for a gyroscope.
Kappboom – wallpaper generator with Super Wallpapers effects (there are templates for Xiaomi).
Canva is a simple editor for creating static wallpapers with the right resolution.
- ⚠️ Important nuances: Super Wallpapers requires you to accurately observe your model’s screen resolution (e.g., Super Wallpapers, 3200×1440 Xiaomi 13 Animated wallpaper increases battery consumption 5–10%. Some effects (such as paralax) may not work on budget models due to iron limitations.
If you want your wallpaper to appear in the official Xiaomi gallery, you can submit them for consideration through the platform. MIUI Theme Designer.Accepted works fall into MIUI Themes Store and become available to millions of users.