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Why the capture can stay 1024 pixels wide
Xvfb and wkhtmltoimage control different parts of the capture environment. Xvfb supplies a virtual X display with a width, height, and color depth. The renderer has its own screen-width setting, and its smart-width behavior can affect whether the requested width acts as a limit or only a guide. The renderer must also connect to the X server whose dimensions you changed.
That gives you three questions to answer: what dimensions did the Xvfb process actually start with, which display is the capture process using, and what width behavior does the installed renderer support? A CSS rule, a zoom adjustment, or a change to an unrelated Xvfb process will not reliably fix a mismatch between those controls.
The X.Org Xvfb manual documents a default virtual screen of 1280x1024x8. That is a width of 1280 pixels, not 1024; the 1024 in that default is the height. If your output is exactly 1024 pixels wide, do not assume that this default explains it. Check the renderer option and the actual process configuration.
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Fix the width in the right order
- Inspect the Xvfb launch command. Xvfb’s
-screenargument takes a screen number followed by width, height, and depth in the formWxHxD. For a 1920-by-1080 virtual display at 24-bit depth, for example:Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1920x1080x24This is an example configuration, not a requirement for every host. Choose dimensions and depth that suit the application and available resources. The X.Org Xvfb manual also demonstrates the form
Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1600x1200x32. - Point the capture process at that display. If the Xvfb server uses display number
:99, make that display available to the renderer:export DISPLAY=:99Or set the variable for a single command:
DISPLAY=:99 wkhtmltoimage --width 1920 --disable-smart-width input.html output.pngUse the display number actually assigned to your Xvfb process. Setting
DISPLAYin a different shell, service, or container does not change the environment of a capture process that has already started. - Set the renderer’s width explicitly. The Ubuntu Noble
wkhtmltoimagemanual documents--width <int>and describes it as a guide unless you also use--disable-smart-width. For a strict 1920-pixel renderer width, try:wkhtmltoimage --width 1920 --disable-smart-width input.html output.pngUbuntu Noble’s manual puts the distinction this way: “Set screen width, note that this is used only as a guide line. Use –disable-smart-width to make it strict.” Confirm that your installed binary recognizes both switches before relying on them; builds, downstream patches, and wrappers can differ.
- Check the dimensions of the resulting image. Do not rely only on a browser preview or a CSS width. Inspect the output file’s pixel dimensions using an image viewer or an image-inspection utility available in your environment. Compare the reported image width with the requested renderer width and the Xvfb screen width.
When selecting dimensions, configure the virtual display at least as wide and tall as the capture environment requires, and set the renderer width to the intended viewport. A larger Xvfb screen does not, by itself, establish that the renderer will use that width; a larger renderer width does not prove that the process connected to the intended display.
Choose the setting that matches how you call wkhtmltoimage
Command-line captures
For the CLI, start with the effective command line, environment, and the output file. A small, repeatable diagnostic run makes it easier to distinguish an option problem from a display problem:
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printf 'DISPLAY=%sn' "$DISPLAY"
wkhtmltoimage --version
wkhtmltoimage --extended-help
wkhtmltoimage --width 1920 --disable-smart-width input.html output.pngIf your binary does not support --extended-help, try --help. Read the local output rather than assuming that a switch documented for another package build is available. If the capture runs as a service, container, or scheduled job, gather these details from that process’s environment, not just from an interactive terminal.
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C library callers
If your application calls the wkhtmltoimage C library rather than launching the CLI, look at the image-global settings it passes. The library interface documents screenWidth as the screen width in pixels and smartWidth as the control for whether that width expands when content does not fit. Set and log those values in the application that creates the capture. A command-line flag in a separate shell will not alter settings passed by a library caller.
Zoom is not a viewport-width setting
--zoom is listed separately from the width controls. It changes scale; the documentation does not describe it as a replacement for setting the screen width or disabling smart width. Use zoom only when you intend to scale the rendered page, not as the first response to a fixed 1024-pixel output.
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Diagnose a result that is still 1024 pixels wide
- The Xvfb command shows a smaller width than expected: Change the
-screendimensions on the Xvfb process that serves the capture. Check the completeWxHxDvalue; width is the first number. - The Xvfb command is correct, but the renderer may use another display: Log
DISPLAYin the capture process and compare its display number with the Xvfb server number. Check the service or wrapper launch configuration as well as the command you expect it to run. - The renderer reports an unknown option: Inspect that installed binary’s
--versionand--helpor--extended-helpoutput. The Noble manual documents the switches, but that does not establish that every build or wrapper supports them. Use the option names accepted by your installed build, or investigate whether the wrapper invokes a different binary. - The image width does not match
--width: Test with--disable-smart-widthif the local help lists it. The manual describes--widthas a guide without that switch, so setting the number alone may not make it strict. - The image width matches, but the page content looks too small or too large: Separate output dimensions from rendered scale. Check page CSS and viewport-dependent layout, then consider whether zoom is appropriate for the visual scale you need.
- The failure occurs only in a service or container: Record the actual executable path, version, full effective command,
DISPLAY, Xvfb launch arguments, and resulting image dimensions from that runtime. A wrapper, job runner, or container entrypoint may start a different Xvfb server or invoke a different binary than your manual test.
These checks are useful because the documented settings act at different layers. If the logs do not reveal which configuration is active, capture the process launch details and output dimensions together before changing more options. That evidence can show whether the limit comes from the display, the renderer, or a mismatch between them.
Performance and reliability considerations
A wider or taller virtual screen changes the display dimensions available to the capture; it does not guarantee that a page will lay itself out at the desired CSS viewport width. The renderer’s width control and the page’s own layout rules still matter. Validate representative pages at the target dimensions, especially if they use responsive breakpoints or content that overflows.
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Keep the Xvfb launch and capture environment explicit in scripts and service configuration. Log the effective display and renderer options when diagnosing a regression. Avoid treating a zoom change as a fix for a width mismatch: it can change visual scale without resolving which viewport or display the process used.
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A 2014 wkhtmltopdf issue discussion describes an Xvfb and --use-xserver route in the PDF-tool context. That historical discussion is not proof that wkhtmltoimage requires the same option. For this image-capture problem, use the direct Xvfb and wkhtmltoimage settings described above, and verify behavior against the binary installed in your environment.
Or skip the browser setup
If the page is reachable by URL, ScreenshotNeo offers a screenshot API and MCP server as an alternative to maintaining an Xvfb and wkhtmltoimage setup. This does not replace local capture when the HTML is only available on your machine or network.
One GET request returns a screenshot; this cURL example saves the response as WebP. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request details and options.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does a 1024-pixel output prove that Xvfb is using its documented default?
No. The documented Xvfb default is 1280 pixels wide by 1024 pixels high; an output width of 1024 needs to be diagnosed from the actual Xvfb and renderer settings.
Does the historical wkhtmltopdf Xvfb example establish a wkhtmltoimage requirement?
No. It describes a route in the wkhtmltopdf context and should not be treated as a requirement for wkhtmltoimage.
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