Microsoft Teams lets you blur your background or replace it with a custom image during video calls — useful for working from home, hiding a messy room, or presenting a professional appearance. You can set this before or during a meeting. Here is how.
Before a Meeting — From the Pre-Join Screen
- When joining a meeting, the pre-join screen appears showing your camera preview
- Click the Background filters button (looks like a person silhouette) below your video preview, or click the three dots in the preview toolbar
- A panel opens on the right with background options:
- None: your real background (default)
- Blur: blurs your background while keeping you in focus
- Built-in images: Microsoft provides a selection of office, nature, and abstract backgrounds
- Custom image: upload your own image (JPG or PNG, ideally 1920×1080)
- Click the background you want — the preview updates immediately
- Click Join now to enter the meeting with the background applied
During a Meeting
- Click the three-dot menu (More) in the meeting toolbar
- Select Video effects (or Background effects depending on your Teams version)
- The background panel opens — choose blur, a built-in image, or a custom image
- Click Apply — the background changes immediately without interrupting the call
Adding a Custom Background Image
Teams supports any JPG or PNG file as a custom background:
- In the background panel (either pre-join or during a meeting), click Add new (a + icon, usually below the default options)
- Browse to your image file and select it
- The image is added to your backgrounds gallery and can be reused in future meetings
For best results, use a high-resolution landscape image (1920×1080 or similar). Avoid images with lots of fine detail at the edges — background blur algorithms can struggle with intricate patterns close to your silhouette.
Removing Custom Backgrounds
To remove a custom image you have added:
- Open the background panel
- Right-click the custom image thumbnail
- Select Remove
Built-in Microsoft backgrounds cannot be removed, only hidden by scrolling past them.
Background Requirements
AI background removal and blur work better with:
- Good, even lighting — if your face is underlit or strongly backlit, the segmentation algorithm has difficulty distinguishing you from the background
- A plain background — ironically, the closer your real background is to a plain wall, the more effectively Teams can blur or replace it
- A capable processor — background effects use CPU and GPU. On older or less powerful machines, applying background effects can increase CPU usage noticeably. If your video becomes choppy after enabling a background, blur is less demanding than image replacement.
Background Effects Not Appearing
If the background effects option is missing:
- Your PC may not meet the hardware requirements for AI background segmentation (Teams requires AVX2 CPU support)
- Your IT admin may have disabled background effects via policy
- Ensure your Teams app is up to date — click profile picture → Check for updates
Turning Off Background Effects
To turn off a background effect during a call, open the background panel again and click None, then Apply. Your real background will be shown to other participants.
