Ultrawide Monitor Split Screen on a Mac: One Big Video, a Grid Beside It, and Plush's New Split Layout

Plush 1.6 adds a third layout called Split: one big tile on the left, the rest in a grid beside it. You size everything by dragging the seams. We built it for ultrawide monitors, after a Plush user with a 32:9 screen asked for exactly that shape, and it's free. This guide covers how Split works, the settings that suit 21:9 and 32:9 screens, the new drag to swap, and the other ways to split an ultrawide monitor on a Mac.

What the Split layout does

Split puts the first tile on the left at full height. Its width starts at half the window and moves anywhere from 25 to 75 percent. Every other tile goes into a grid on the right:

• One or two side tiles stack in a single column.
• Three or more go into two columns, filled in rows of two.
• An odd tile out gets the last row to itself, at the full width of the right side, so there's never an empty hole.

When you switch from Grid to Split, the tile selected for sound, the one with the accent glow, becomes the big one. If no tile is selected, the one under your pointer does. Hero uses the same rule, so coming from Hero, the hero simply stays big. The other tiles keep playing through the switch.

Why Split fits an ultrawide monitor

Most video is 16:9, and an ultrawide screen isn't. One video stretched across the whole panel gets black bars at the sides or a cropped picture. Split works the other way round: it cuts the screen into pieces that are each close to 16:9, so every video gets a frame that fits it.

32:9: five 16:9 pictures at the default

A 32:9 monitor is two 16:9 screens side by side. Samsung's 49-inch Odyssey G9, for example, is 5120 × 1440. Split's default puts the big tile at exactly half, so it comes out at about 2560 × 1440, a 16:9 picture. The other half is also 16:9, and a two-by-two grid cuts it into four tiles of about 1280 × 720, each 16:9 again.

That's five tiles, five 16:9 videos, and next to no black bars. The title bar and tile borders take a few pixels, so the fit is very close rather than exact, and you can nudge any seam to taste. This is the shape that started Split, one big picture with a two-by-two grid beside it, and for sports it's one game big with four more around it, like the layouts in our build-your-own multiview guide.

21:9: drag the seam to three quarters

A 21:9 monitor, such as LG's 34-inch 34U650A-B at 3440 × 1440, is about one and a third 16:9 screens wide. At the default 50 percent, the big tile is narrower than 16:9, so a video in it shows bars above and below. Drag the seam to its limit, 75 percent, and the big tile becomes about 2580 × 1440, which a 16:9 picture fills almost exactly.

On a 2560 × 1080 or 5120 × 2160 ultrawide the math is exact, because three quarters of those widths is 1920 and 3840, a 1080p frame and a 4K frame. The side column gets narrower, which is fine for things you glance at: a second game, a chat page or a playlist.

A regular screen: Split for a vertical video

Split works on any display, including a MacBook. On a 16:9 or 16:10 screen, though, the default big tile is taller than 16:9 video, so Grid or Hero usually suits landscape video better there. Split still has a trick on a regular screen: drag the seam to about a third of the width, and a vertical 9:16 video fills the full height on the left while landscape tiles sit in the grid beside it.

How to set up Split in Plush

1. Update to Plush 1.6. Split, drag to swap and Remove Tile all arrived in 1.6. Plush is free on the Mac App Store and runs on macOS 14 or later.
2. Fill your tiles. Click an empty tile and choose Local Files, Website or Apple Music. Set the count with the Tiles stepper in the sidebar: up to 3 free, up to 8 with Plush Pro.
3. Pick the big one. Double-click the tile you care about most to lock the sound to it. That's the tile Split will make big.
4. Choose Split. Open the sidebar with ⌘\ and pick Split in the Layout control, next to Grid and Hero. The View menu has it too, as Split Layout.
5. Make the window as big as the screen. Press ⌃⌘F for full screen. The closer the window is to the display's shape, the closer the tiles are to 16:9.
6. Drag the seams. The vertical seam sets the big tile's width, from 25 to 75 percent. On the right, drag the seams between rows and between columns, or the corner where they meet. Double-click a seam to reset it, and press ⌘Z to undo a resize.
7. Keep it. Restore Last Session, which is free, brings the layout back next time. With Plush Pro you can save it as a named session, and sessions remember Split's sizes.

Drag to swap: rearrange your tiles

Plush 1.6 also lets you rearrange tiles by dragging. Drag a tile's picture onto another tile and the two trade places. Videos keep playing right through the swap, with no restart and no reload.

• Local videos, images and slideshows drag by their picture.
• Apple Music tiles drag by the album cover on the Now Playing screen.
• Website tiles drag the same way once they're in Video Mode, the toolbar button that fills the tile with the page's video. In normal browsing, the page keeps its own drags.
• Drop a tile on the big tile to promote it. In Split, that's the quickest way to put a different game up front.
• VoiceOver users get Move Tile Earlier and Move Tile Later actions.

It's free. It's a swap, not a shuffle: the two tiles exchange places and the rest stay where they are.

Remove any tile

Right-click a tile and choose Remove Tile to take that exact tile out of the layout. The others keep their order, and if you remove the big tile in Split, the next one moves up. Changed your mind? ⌘Z brings it back with its content. Website tiles have Remove Tile in their right-click menu now too, and it's free.

Grid, Hero or Split: which to use

Three Split setups

32:9 game day: one big, four beside it

Each streaming service decides what plays in a tile, so test yours before the day. Our multiview guide covers which services offer what.

21:9 desk: one stream at three quarters, two beside it

The Twitch multistream guide has more on streams and chat side by side.

Any screen: a vertical video beside a grid

Other ways to split an ultrawide monitor on a Mac

Most people who search for an ultrawide split screen on a Mac want to divide the desktop between apps, not between videos. Those tools are different, and some are free:

• macOS tiling. Drag a window to a screen edge, or use the Window menu, to tile windows in halves and quarters. Our split-screen guide has the steps and shortcuts.
• A window manager for thirds. Thirds suit a wide screen well. Rectangle, which is free and open source, has first, center and last third positions, plus two-thirds, and its current version supports macOS 14 and later.
• Your monitor's Picture-by-Picture. Many ultrawides can show two inputs side by side, such as two computers. Samsung lists Picture-by-Picture for the 49-inch Odyssey G9, and LG lists two-input PBP for the 34U650A-B. It's a hardware feature that varies by model, so check your monitor's manual.

None of these puts several videos in one window with one place to control the sound. That's the job Split does.

Also new in Plush 1.6

• Better shuffle. Tiles on the same site now share one shuffle, so two tiles never land on the same video, and picks are more varied. Plush looks through the site you're already on to find more to shuffle. The list stays on your Mac, and Clear Browsing Data removes it. Shuffle This Site is still part of Plush Pro.
• Fade Focus Glow. A new setting under Tile Borders in the sidebar dims the glow around your audio tile a few seconds after you choose it. It's off by default.
• Smaller changes. Website video in Video Mode now starts in Fit, so you see the whole picture. The audio glow hides in Chaos mode, where every tile plays. Text is a little larger throughout, and on macOS 27 the window drags from anywhere on its title bar.

Plush Pro is unchanged: a one-time $2.99 purchase with no subscription. Anyone who downloaded Plush before 1.5.0 still has it free.

Free vs Plush Pro for this guide

Frequently asked questions

Can you split an ultrawide monitor on a Mac?

Yes. To divide the desktop between apps, use macOS tiling for halves and quarters, or a window manager such as Rectangle for thirds. To put several videos on an ultrawide in one window, use a multi-screen player. Plush's free Split layout puts one big video on the left and a grid beside it.

How do I split an ultrawide monitor into 3 on a Mac?

For apps, use a window manager with thirds, like Rectangle. For videos, choose Split in Plush with 3 tiles, which is free: one big tile with two stacked beside it. On a 21:9 screen, drag the seam to about 75 percent for a full-height 16:9 picture.

What is the best layout for a 32:9 monitor?

For video, Split with five tiles at the default 50 percent. The big tile is half the screen, which is a 16:9 shape, and the other half divides into four 16:9 tiles. Five tiles need Plush Pro.

Is Plush's Split layout free?

Yes. Split is free with up to 3 tiles, one big and two beside it. Plush Pro, a one-time $2.99 purchase with no subscription, raises the limit to 8 tiles. Hero is the layout that needs Plush Pro.

How do I change which video is the big one?

Drag another tile's picture onto the big tile and the two swap places. When you switch from Grid to Split, the tile selected for sound, the one with the accent glow, becomes the big one.

Can you rearrange tiles in Plush?

Yes, from version 1.6. Drag a tile's picture onto another tile and the two trade places while they keep playing. Website tiles drag in Video Mode, and Apple Music tiles drag by the album cover on Now Playing.

Does Split work on a MacBook screen?

Yes, Split works on any display. On a 16:10 MacBook screen, Grid or Hero usually suits landscape video better, but Split with the seam at about a third is a good fit for a vertical video beside a grid.

Plush Media Player is free on the Mac App Store, and Split with up to 3 tiles costs nothing. Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 for up to 8 tiles, with no subscription. Put one big video on the left of your ultrawide and see how it feels.