In case you don't know, Windows 10 reduces the quality of JPEG images you set as the desktop background. If you compare the original image and the wallpaper, you can see that the wallpaper has minor JPEG artifacts. The issue is not new to Windows 10 - Windows 8 and Windows 7 are also affected by this issue. But Windows 10 is the first version where a solution is available. Let's see how to disable wallpaper JPEG quality reduction in Windows 10.



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C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\TranscodedWallpaper

First, let me explain why Windows does this. When you are setting a JPEG image as the Desktop background, Windows reduces its quality to 85%. This allows the operating system to save RAM while showing the Desktop background image, when cycling wallpapers during the Desktop slideshow. It also saves disk space and the image will be processed faster because it's smaller in size. The processed image will be stored in the following file:

You can add a JPG extension to the file name and open it in your favorite image viewer to see it.

By default, the processed image quality is reduced to 85%. Microsoft considers this value as a compromise between the image quality and the file size.

In Windows 10, this value can be changed. While there is no GUI for this feature, it can be done via a Registry tweak.

How to disable wallpaper JPEG quality reduction in Windows 10

To disable wallpaper JPEG quality reduction in Windows 10, do the following.

You are done. To avoid manual Registry editing, you can do the following.

You can either download ready-to-use Registry files from here:

Download Registry Files

Or an easier way is to use my freeware app Winaero Tweaker. With Winaero Tweaker 0.5.0.5, you will be able to adjust the wallpaper image quality easily using the following user interface:

That's it.

RECOMMENDED: Click here to fix Windows errors and optimize system performance