Most subspecies of the double-eyed fig parrot are sexually dimorphic, with males having more red (less silvery and blue) to the face than the females.

It is predominantly green with a very short tail, a disproportionately large head and bill, and red and blue facial markings.

Its name is derived from a blue spot on the lores, which in New Guinean birds is roughly the same size as the eyes.

Coxen's fig parrot (C. d. coxeni) is of one Australia's rarest and least known birds, having been recorded on fewer than 200 occasions since being described by Gould in 1866.

Double-eyed fig parrots utter high-pitched, clipped, two or three note zzzt-zzzt or zeet-zeet calls, unlike the rolling or trilling screeches typical of lorikeets.