Change your background in Microsoft Teams

The short answer

Teams lets you blur your background, pick one of its built-in images, or upload your own picture. You can do this on the pre-join screen before a meeting or from the meeting controls during a call. Your choice generally stays in place for later meetings and calls until you change it.

Several conditions can limit this. Background effects depend on your device and on how you run Teams (desktop app, web browser or mobile), and your organization's administrator can restrict or disable custom image uploads. Microsoft also renames and moves these controls between versions. Labels such as "Background filters", "Video effects" or "Effects and avatars" may appear, so treat the steps below as a general route rather than an exact menu path for every version.

Change the background before you join

• Open the meeting and go to the pre-join screen, where you can preview your camera.
• Turn your camera on. Background options appear only while video is active.
• Open the background or effects option near the video preview. It may be labeled as background filters, video effects, or effects and avatars.
• Choose Blur to soften what is behind you, or select one of the provided images.
• Check the preview, then join the meeting.

Change the background during a meeting

• Find the camera control in the meeting toolbar. Depending on the version, background options are either in a small arrow or menu next to the camera button or under More actions (the three-dot menu).
• Open the video effects or background effects panel.
• Select Blur, a built-in image, or one of your uploaded images.
• Use the preview option if it is offered, so you can check the result before other participants see it, then apply it.

Add your own background image

In the same background panel, look for an option such as "Add new" and choose an image file from your device. After it uploads, it appears alongside the built-in options and you can select it like any other background. If the add option is missing, your organization may have disabled custom backgrounds, or your current version of Teams may not support it. In either case, ask your IT administrator. The supplied evidence does not confirm Teams' accepted file types or image size requirements, so check Microsoft's current guidance if an upload is rejected.

If Teams' own background options aren't available

Some people use a separate virtual camera application that applies the background effect itself and then appears in Teams as a camera you can select. That application works with your video only. It does not route or change your microphone audio, which you choose separately in Teams.

Does changing your background affect your microphone?

Not directly. Background blur and replacement are video effects. They change what people see, not which microphone Teams uses or how your voice is captured. If you speak through the microphone built into your webcam, switching backgrounds does not change that input. A virtual background also does nothing about the sound of your room. Echo, fan noise or a distant webcam microphone will sound the same with a different image behind you.

To deal with background noise rather than visual background, use Teams' audio settings, such as its noise suppression options, which are separate from video effects. No evidence was supplied about whether background effects use enough processing power to affect call audio on slower computers. If you notice choppy audio after turning effects on, one simple diagnostic step is to switch the effect off and see whether the audio improves.