How to Change Background in Microsoft Teams [6 Various Ways]

If you’ve ever joined a Teams call with a pile of laundry visible behind you, or a family member casually walking past, you know exactly why virtual backgrounds exist. The good news is that changing your background in Microsoft Teams takes less than a minute, and there are more options than most people realize.

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through every way to change, blur, or upload a custom background in Teams, whether you’re on desktop, in a browser, or on mobile. I’ll also cover what to do if the option is missing for you.

Why Change Your Background in Teams?

Let me be honest, it’s not just about hiding a messy room (though that’s a perfectly valid reason). Here’s why people use virtual backgrounds in Teams:

• Privacy — You don’t always want coworkers or clients seeing your home environment.
• Professionalism — A clean, neutral background makes you look more put-together on video.
• Branding — Teams and companies sometimes use branded backgrounds with logos during client calls.
• Focus — A busy background can distract others from what you’re actually saying.

Alright, let’s get into it.

What You Need Before You Start

Before you try to change your background, quickly check these things:

• You’re using the Microsoft Teams desktop app (Windows or Mac) — most features work best here.
• Your Teams app is up to date — older versions sometimes hide the background effects option.
• Your device has a working webcam — Teams can’t apply background effects if it can’t see your video feed.
• You’re on a supported OS — Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.13 or later. Very old machines may not support AI-based background effects.

If background effects are missing for you, nine times out of ten, it’s one of these four things. I’ll cover the fix at the end.

Change Background in Microsoft Teams

Now I will show you different ways to change the background in Microsoft Teams.

Method 1: Change Background Before Joining a Meeting (Desktop)

This is the most common way to do it, and honestly, the smoothest experience. You set your background before you even enter the meeting.

Here’s exactly what to do:

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your desktop.
2. Go to your Calendar on the left sidebar.
3. Find your scheduled meeting and click Join.
4. You’ll land on a pre-join screen — where you can see your own video preview before entering.
5. Look for the Background filter icon — it looks like a small magic wand or star — just below your video preview.
6. Click it. A panel opens on the right side of the screen.
7. You’ll see several options: None, Blur, and a set of pre-installed background images.
8. Click any background to preview it instantly — your video feed will update in real time.
9. Once you’re happy with your choice, click Join now.

That’s it. Your background is set and will stay that way for future meetings, too, until you manually change it again.

Pro tip: If you want to upload your own image instead of using the defaults, click More video effects (or the Add new button, depending on your Teams version). You can upload a JPG, PNG, or BMP file. Keep the image size reasonable; a 1920×1080 JPEG usually works perfectly.

Method 2: Change Background During a Live Meeting (Desktop)

Maybe you forgot to set a background before joining, or you want to switch it mid-call. No problem, you can change it while the meeting is already running.

Here’s how:

1. While in a meeting, look at the toolbar at the top of the screen (or hover to bring it up).
2. Click the three-dot menu (More actions) — it’s usually toward the right of the toolbar.
3. Select Video effects and settings from the dropdown.
4. The Video effects panel opens on the right.
5. Choose your blur option, a preset background, or click Add new to upload your own.
6. Hit Apply.

Alternatively, there’s a quicker shortcut: click the dropdown arrow right next to the Camera button in the meeting toolbar. You’ll see a quick Blur toggle and recently used backgrounds pop up directly, without opening the full settings panel.

Method 3: Blur Your Background in Teams (Without a Custom Image)

If you don’t want to use a custom background but just want to soften or hide what’s behind you, Teams has two blur levels built in:

• Standard blur — This blurs everything behind you evenly.
• Portrait blur — This is smarter. It uses AI to identify your outline more precisely, so the blur looks more natural and your face stays sharp.

To access these:

1. On the pre-join screen, click Video effects.
2. Next to the Blur option, click the dropdown arrow.
3. Choose either Standard blur or Portrait blur.

Portrait blur generally looks better, especially if you move around a lot. Standard blur is faster and works on older machines that struggle with AI processing.

Method 4: Upload a Custom Background in Microsoft Teams

Using one of the default Teams backgrounds is fine, but if you want something more personal — maybe your company’s branded wallpaper, a clean home office image, or just something you like — you can upload your own.

Here’s how:

1. On the pre-join screen (or during the meeting), open Video effects.
2. Click Add new (or More video effects → Add new).
3. Browse and select your image file. Supported formats are: JPG, PNG, BMP.
4. Once uploaded, it appears in your background library and you can click it to apply.

A few things worth knowing about custom images:

• Use a landscape-oriented image (wider than tall) — portrait images get cropped awkwardly.
• Avoid images with too much text or fine detail — the AI edge detection can cut through them and make the edges around you look messy.
• Ideal resolution is 1920×1080 (Full HD). Going much higher doesn’t improve quality and may slow things down.
• You can delete custom backgrounds by right-clicking on them in the effects panel and selecting Remove.

Method 5: Change Background on Microsoft Teams Web (Browser)

If you’re using Teams in your browser instead of the desktop app, the steps are slightly different, and not all features are available depending on which browser you use.

Before joining:

1. Go to your Teams calendar and click Join.
2. On the pre-join screen, look for Apply video effects button.
3. Select Blur or choose a background image.
4. Click Join now.

During a meeting:

1. Click More actions (three dots) in the meeting toolbar.
2. Select Video effects.
3. Pick your background or blur option.

Note: Custom background uploads and some advanced effects may not be available in the browser version, depending on your browser and Teams plan. Chrome and Edge (Chromium) tend to work best for Teams on the web.

Method 6: Change Background on Mobile (iOS and Android)

If you’re jumping into a Teams meeting from your phone, the background options are a bit more limited but still useful.

Before joining a meeting:

1. Open the Teams mobile app.
2. Tap on a scheduled meeting from your Calendar.
3. Tap Join.
4. On the pre-join screen, tap Background effects (the icon looks like a person with a landscape behind them).
5. Browse through the options — tap any to preview.
6. Tap Add new if you want to upload your own image.
7. Tap Done to confirm.

During a meeting:

1. Tap the More options (three dots) button at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap Background effects.
3. Select your preferred background.
4. Tap Done.

Important for mobile users: Not all Android devices support background effects in Teams. Older or lower-end devices may not see the option at all. This is a hardware limitation — Teams uses AI processing for background effects, and that requires a certain level of processing power.

How to Turn Off Background Effects

Want to go back to your real background? Here’s how:

• On the pre-join screen, open Video effects and select None.
• During a meeting, go to More actions → Video effects and settings, then select None.
• On mobile, go to More options → Background effects, then tap None, and hit Done.

Your background will go back to showing your real room immediately.

What to Do If Background Effects Are Missing

This trips up a lot of people. Here’s a quick checklist if you can’t find the background effects option:

• Update Teams — Go to your profile picture → Check for updates. Run the update and restart.
• Check your hardware — Very old CPUs (without hardware acceleration support) may not support AI-based background effects.
• Make sure you’re not on VDI — Background effects are not available when Teams is running on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments. This is a known limitation.
• Try the desktop app — If you’re on the web version and the option is missing, switch to the desktop app.
• Enable GPU acceleration — Go to Teams Settings → General, and make sure Disable GPU hardware acceleration is unchecked (meaning GPU acceleration is enabled).
• Check your Teams license — Certain Microsoft 365 plans or free Teams tiers may have limited features. Check your admin’s settings if you’re on a work account.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

Here are a few practical things I’ve learned from using Teams backgrounds regularly:

• Good lighting matters more than the background — If your face is dark or backlit, no background will save you. Sit facing a window or light source.
• Sit still — The AI edge detection works best when you’re not moving constantly. If you fidget a lot, the edges around you might look a bit fuzzy or glitchy.
• Solid color backgrounds work best — Custom images with simple, clean designs look more professional than busy or cluttered photos.
• Test before important calls — Join a test meeting or use the camera preview in Settings to see exactly how your background looks before you’re live in front of a client.
• Branded backgrounds for team calls — If you’re on a team, it can look really sharp if everyone uses the same branded background during client presentations. Ask your IT admin or brand team for the right file.

Quickly Recap: All the Ways to Change Your Teams Background

Method	When	Where
Pre-join screen	Before entering the meeting	Desktop / Mobile / Web
During meeting (toolbar)	Already in the meeting	Desktop / Web
Upload custom image	Before or during	Desktop (best), Web (limited)
Blur only	Before or during	Desktop / Mobile / Web
Mobile background effects	Before or during	iOS and Android

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