Live Lock Screen

A GNOME Shell extension that lets you set any video as your lock screen background.

⚠️ If you are having issues with current version you may check out legacy branch however it is highly recommended to stick with new versions for better performance.

Features

• 🎬 Play any video file as the lock screen background
• 🔁 Loop support
• 🎨 Video scaling modes (cover, fit, stretch)
• 🔲 Transparent video support (RGBA)
• ⏸️ Automatic pause/play on suspend and wake
• 🌌 Configurable fade-in animation
• 🖥️ Multi-monitor support
• 🌫️ Blur effect with adjustable radius and brightness
• 🎞️ Configurable frame rate (1–120 FPS)
• 🔊 Optional audio output with volume control and fade-in/out
• 🔑 Interactive behavior on password prompt (blur/brightness change, video pause, grayscale)

TODO

• Publish to extensions.gnome.org

Known Issues

• Possible audio and video desync after suspend/wake
• Possible clicking/crackling sounds when pausing/playing video with audio
• Video positioning issues when connecting/disconnecting monitors with lock screen on

Installation

Manual

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/nick-redwill/LiveLockScreen.git

2. Copy to your extensions folder:

   cp -r LiveLockScreen ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/live-lockscreen@nick-redwill

3. Log out and back in, then enable the extension:

   gnome-extensions enable live-lockscreen@nick-redwill

4. Open the extension preferences and select your video file.

Requirements

• GNOME Shell 46+
• GStreamer with good/bad plugins:

    # Fedora
    sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-ugly gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras
  
    # Ubuntu/Debian
    sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly

• GStreamer GTK4 video sink (gtk4paintablesink):

    # Fedora
    sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugin-gtk4
  
    # Ubuntu 24.10+ / Debian (newer)
    sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-gtk4
  
    # Ubuntu 24.04 — not available as a package.
    # Either build from source or download from launchpad

Support

If you enjoy this extension, consider buying me a tea 🍵 (I’m not really a coffee person :D)

License

AGPL-3.0