xrandr — change screen resolution from the Linux command line — garron.me

This post was originally published on go2linux.org on February 9, 2008. The domain is no longer mine, but I am the original author. I am republishing it here on garron.me with corrections and improvements.

Introduction

xrandr is the command-line interface to the X Resize and Rotate extension. It lets you query and change screen resolution, refresh rate, orientation, and multi-monitor layout without restarting the X server.

xrandr works on X11 (Xorg) sessions. If you are on Wayland, xrandr may not be available or may only work in compatibility mode — use your desktop environment's display settings instead (Settings → Displays in GNOME, System Settings → Display and Monitor in KDE).

List available resolutions and outputs

Running xrandr with no arguments lists all connected displays (outputs) and the resolutions they support:

xrandr

Example output:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
HDMI-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1024x768      75.08    60.00
eDP-1 connected 1366x768+1920+0 310mm x 170mm
   1366x768      60.00*+

The * marks the current resolution; + marks the preferred resolution for that output.

Change resolution for a specific output

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1280x1024

Replace HDMI-1 with your output name from the listing above.

Change refresh rate

Set both resolution and refresh rate at once:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080 --rate 50

Rotate the display

xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate left      # 90° counter-clockwise
xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate right     # 90° clockwise
xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate inverted  # upside down
xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate normal    # back to normal

Multiple monitors

Mirror both displays:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --same-as eDP-1

Extend desktop — place HDMI-1 to the right of eDP-1:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --right-of eDP-1

Turn off an output:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off

Set a specific output as the primary display:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --primary

Make a resolution change permanent

Changes made with xrandr are lost on reboot. To make them stick:

On GNOME, KDE, or XFCE — use the display settings GUI. Those changes are remembered automatically across reboots.

On a minimal or tiling window manager — add the xrandr command to your session startup file:

echo 'xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080 --rate 60' >> ~/.xsessionrc

System-wide — create a file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "HDMI-1"
    Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"
EndSection

Add a custom resolution

If your desired resolution is not listed, generate a modeline with cvt and add it:

cvt 1600 900 60

Output:

# 1600x900 59.95 Hz (CVT 1.44M9) hsync: 55.99 kHz; pclk: 118.25 MHz
Modeline "1600x900_60.00"  118.25  1600 1696 1856 2112  900 903 908 934 -hsync +vsync

Then add and apply it:

xrandr --newmode "1600x900_60.00" 118.25 1600 1696 1856 2112 900 903 908 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode HDMI-1 "1600x900_60.00"
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode "1600x900_60.00"

xrandr — change screen resolution from the Linux command line