Can You Change Your Background on Microsoft Teams? [2024] 

In the days of staying at home, working from home, and virtual meetings, the ability to change your virtual meeting background takes away the boredom sometimes. 

I bet that when you attend a meeting in MS Teams with your camera turned on, the thought of hiding the mess in your room from the camera lurks in your head to avoid embarrassment.

At least I have the same thought. That’s why I searched for a way to change my MS Teams’ camera background to hide my surroundings and add some fun while being professional in a meeting.

 So, can you change your background on Microsoft Teams? 

In this post, I will explain to you everything related to changing the background of Microsoft Teams. So, stay with me till the end and read the whole post.

How to Change the Background Before Joining a Meeting in MS Teams 

If you’re wondering how to change your MS Teams background before the meeting so your teammates won’t be distracted by you, this method is the right choice for you.

I’ll show you how to change your background before attending a meeting on MS teams. Follow the steps below to change your background before an MS meeting in seconds: 

• Open the MS Teams app.
• Click on the joining link for the meeting. 
• Toggle the middle background button between your microphone and camera toggle buttons on the preview screen. 
• Choose your desired background screen. 
• Turn on Blur if you want to blur the background image.
• Click on Add new to add a new background image. 
• Click on Join now to join the meeting with your new background. 

Now your background is changed before joining the meeting and without causing any distraction to your teammates.

Check out the easiest way to Green Screen with Microsoft Teams

How to Change the MS Teams Background During a Meeting

I told you before that you can change the background of Microsoft Teams in two ways. I’m showing you the second one below.

So, If you’re wondering about changing the Microsoft Teams background during a meeting, follow the steps below to change your background in MS Teams while being in a meeting: 

• Press the three-dot menu on the in-call floating toolbar.
• Click on Show background effects.
• Choose your desired background from the selection array on the sidebar. 
• Toggle the Blur option if you want to blur the background. 
• Click on Add new to add a new background image.
• Click Apply and turn on video to save the changes.

Now, your background is changed while being in a meeting on MS Teams.

How to Add New MS Teams Background

So, If you’re thinking about using images other than the native collection of the MSTeams app as your background, I have the solution for you. I made a guideline to add your custom images in the MS Teams background image collection.

Follow the steps below to add a custom image as your background: 

• Press Win+R keys to open the Run program.
• Type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds in the dialog box and hit Enter.
• Click on the Uploads folder.
• Copy your desired background images into the uploads folder.
• Close all windows and run the MS Teams app to change it’s background to your desired one.

Now you can find your desired custom background images side the background images suggestion of MS Teams.

Why Can’t You Change Background in MS Teams?

There’s some issue behind not being able to change the MS Teams’ background. As it’s a relatively new feature, made for newer generations of computers, devices with older CPUs and low-res webcams cannot run the process of background changing.

Although changing the background of MS Teams is fairly easy, it doesn’t always change your background. There are a couple of reasons which complicate the situation.

Check out the easiest way to Share My Screen on Microsoft Teams.

Here are some reasons that might cause you the trouble of can’t change background in MS Teams: 

Backdated Processor

Unfortunately, background changing feature in MS Teams requires running a complex algorithm. Changing the background requires a processor supporting Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (AVX2). An old CPU lacks these supports. That’s why the processors older than Intel Core i3 4th Generation fails to change MS Teams’ background. 

The solution to that is updating your CPU to a newer generation.

Check out our separate post on Delete a Conversation in Microsoft Teams

Low-res Webcam

Another issue behind the inability to change your background is a low-resolution webcam. 

Most of the older model laptops have a low-resolution webcam through which your teammates barely see you.

But, changing the background requires a clear view of your surroundings from your camera. That’s why, if you are using the default camera of your laptop, sometimes you can’t change the background without plenty of lights around you. 

The solution to this issue is to use a high-resolution third-party webcam. It’ll give high-resolution image access to your CPU for processing MS Teams’ background.

FAQ

How to change the background in Microsoft teams on the phone? 

To change your background in MS Teams mobile app, turn your camera on>tap Background effects in the top left corner>choose a background or press + to choose custom image>press Done, and your background is now changed. 

How do you blur the background on MS Teams?

To blur the background of MS Teams in a meeting, press the three-dot menu on the in-call floating toolbar>click on Show background effects >choose the Blurred screen>click Apply to blur your MS Teams background.

Conclusion

I’ve saved your time searching the answer of whether you change your background on Microsoft Teams and listed all the possible hiccups regarding it with their solutions. 

Read the whole post and then apply the methods to change your MS Teams’ background. Comment down below if you’ve any questions or having any troubles applying the solutions. Our experts will try to answer any of your queries about changing the background on MS Teams.