How to Change Background in Microsoft Teams Before a Meeting

This is an independent guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.

You're three minutes away from a client call. You click "Join" in Microsoft Teams and your camera preview pops up, revealing the pile of laundry on the couch behind you, your kid's crayon masterpiece on the wall, and a half-eaten sandwich on the counter. You need to fix this before anyone else sees it.

Changing your background in Microsoft Teams before a meeting takes about 15 seconds. You can blur your surroundings, pick from Teams' built-in images, or upload a custom background that matches your brand. The key: you do it all from the pre-join screen, before anyone in the meeting sees your camera feed.

This guide walks you through how to change background in Microsoft Teams before meeting on Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, and through the Teams Settings app. You'll also learn where Teams stores custom backgrounds, how to get the right image dimensions, and what to do when background effects aren't showing up.

Your background choice sticks between meetings. Once you select a background in the pre-join lobby, Teams remembers it for every future call until you change it. You don't need to reapply it each time.

It's Monday morning. You're working from a coffee shop, laptop propped on a small table, barista noise in the background. You join the weekly standup from the pre-join screen, pick a clean office background, and nobody knows you're sitting next to a latte. The background stays locked in for your 10 AM client call and your noon 1-on-1, without touching settings again.

Windows and Mac differences: The steps are identical on both platforms. The only variation is that Mac users running macOS Sonoma or later may see slightly better edge detection around hair and hands, thanks to Apple's Neural Engine acceleration.

How to Change Your Teams Background From Settings (Without a Meeting)

You don't need to wait for a meeting to set your background. Teams lets you configure it ahead of time through the Settings menu.

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your desktop
2. Click the three-dot menu (...) next to your profile picture in the top-right corner
3. Select Settings
4. Click Background & effects in the left sidebar (under "General" in older versions, or as its own category in Teams 2.0)
5. Your camera preview appears with background options below it
6. Click Blur, choose a built-in image, or click Add new to upload your own

This method is useful when you want to test backgrounds before a call, or when you're setting up a new laptop and want everything configured in advance. The background you pick here becomes your default for all future meetings.

Want a branded background for your next call? Our free Microsoft Teams background creator lets you design professional backgrounds with your company logo in the correct dimensions.

How to Upload Custom Background Images in Teams

Teams' built-in backgrounds are fine for quick calls, but custom images let you match your brand, your team's personality, or the mood of the meeting.

Uploading from the pre-join screen or Settings

1. Open the Background effects panel (either from the pre-join lobby or Settings > Background & effects)
2. Click Add new at the top of the background gallery
3. Browse to your image file and select it
4. The image appears in your gallery and is immediately available to preview

Recommended image specs

• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio)
• File format: JPG, PNG, or BMP
• File size: under 2 MB for best performance
• Landscape orientation only. Portrait images get cropped awkwardly.

Where Teams stores custom backgrounds on your computer

Teams saves uploaded backgrounds to a specific folder on your hard drive. You can also drop images directly into this folder, and they'll appear in your gallery next time you open Background effects.

Windows: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads

Teams 2.0 (New Teams) on Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams\Backgrounds\Uploads

You can copy multiple images into this folder at once, which is faster than uploading them one by one through the UI. This is especially handy when your IT team distributes a set of branded backgrounds to the whole company.

Need custom backgrounds with your logo? Try our free Microsoft Teams background creator to generate professional-looking images in the right dimensions.

How to Blur Background in Teams Before a Call

Blur is the fastest option when you don't have a custom image ready. It softens everything behind you while keeping your face and upper body in sharp focus.

From the pre-join screen, click the Background filters icon and select Blur as the first option in the panel. Your camera preview updates immediately so you can see the effect.

Blur works well in most environments, but it has limitations. Objects close to your body (like a headrest or a chair back) sometimes get blurred along with the background. Moving quickly can cause momentary "ghosting" around your edges. And if your lighting is uneven, Teams may struggle to separate you from your surroundings.

For the cleanest blur, sit with a light source in front of you and some distance between you and whatever's behind you. Even a couple of feet of separation helps Teams' AI draw a sharper line between you and the background.

Say you're interviewing for a new role over Teams. You're at your kitchen table because it has the best Wi-Fi signal. Instead of uploading a virtual office (which might look try-hard), you pick blur. The interviewer sees you clearly, the kitchen fades to a soft wash, and you look like someone who has their act together.

If you're used to Zoom, the blur quality in Teams is comparable. Both use AI-based background segmentation, though Teams tends to handle hair edges slightly better on Windows devices with newer Intel processors.

iPhone vs. Android: both platforms support background effects from the pre-join screen. The main difference is performance. iPhones from the XS and later handle backgrounds smoothly thanks to Apple's Neural Engine. On Android, flagship phones from 2020 onward (Samsung Galaxy S10+, Pixel 4, etc.) perform well, but budget Android devices may show lag or limited background options.

iPad and Android tablets: the steps are the same as on phones. Tablets generally handle backgrounds better than phones due to their larger processors.

Can you upload custom backgrounds on mobile? Yes. Tap the "+" button in the background gallery to pick an image from your camera roll. The recommended resolution is still 1920x1080, but Teams auto-crops images on mobile, so most landscape photos work fine.

For more Teams tips, check out our guide on Microsoft Teams alternatives if you're exploring other options for your team.

Background Effects Not Showing? How to Fix It

Sometimes the background effects option doesn't appear on the pre-join screen or in Settings. Here are the most common fixes.

1. Update Microsoft Teams. Background effects require a recent version of Teams. Click your profile picture > "Check for updates" to force an update. If you're on the classic Teams app, consider switching to the new Teams (Teams 2.0), which has better background effect support.

2. Check your hardware. Background effects need a processor that supports AVX2 instructions. Most Intel 4th-gen (Haswell, 2013) and later CPUs support this, along with AMD Ryzen processors. Very old desktops or thin clients may not qualify.

3. Your admin disabled it. Organizations can turn off background effects through the Teams admin center. If you're on a company account and don't see the option, ask your IT department to enable "Video filters" in the meeting policies.

4. Linux limitations. The Teams desktop app on Linux has historically had limited support for background effects. If you're on Linux, try the Teams web app on Chrome or Edge, which supports background blur and images.

5. VDI or Citrix environments. If you're running Teams through a virtual desktop (VDI, Citrix, Azure Virtual Desktop), background effects may be disabled or limited depending on your VDI optimization settings. Check with your IT admin about enabling media optimization.

6. GPU acceleration is off. Teams uses your GPU for background processing. If GPU hardware acceleration is disabled (Settings > General > "Disable GPU hardware acceleration" is checked), background effects may not work properly. Uncheck it and restart Teams.

Still stuck? Close Teams completely (right-click the system tray icon and select "Quit"), then reopen it. A full restart clears cached settings that sometimes block background effects.

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