How to add a custom background in Zoom

Zoom lets you replace whatever is behind you with any image you like. The steps have moved around between Zoom versions, so this covers both the current layout and the older one, on desktop and mobile.

What Zoom needs from your image

• Aspect ratio 16:9, matching almost every webcam
• 1920 x 1080 pixels is the safe size. Zoom accepts 1280 x 720 but 1080p looks sharper on large screens
• PNG or JPG. 24-bit PNG gives the cleanest edges on logos and text
• Avoid a mostly green image if you use green screen mode, because Zoom will treat that colour as transparent

If your image is any other shape, Zoom will crop or stretch it. Resize before you upload rather than after.

Windows and Mac, current Zoom versions

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app
2. Click your profile picture in the top right, then Settings
3. Open the Video and effects tab, then the Virtual backgrounds tab
4. Click the plus icon and choose to add an image
5. Pick your file. If Zoom asks, click Download to install the package that lets virtual backgrounds work without a green screen
6. Click your new image to apply it

On slightly older builds the same screen is called Background and Effects and sits directly in Settings rather than under Video and effects. The plus icon works the same way.

Changing it during a call

1. Click the arrow next to the Video button in the meeting toolbar
2. Choose Video and effect settings, or Choose Virtual Background on older builds
3. Pick or upload your image. It changes live, so everyone on the call sees it switch straight away

iPhone and Android

1. Join or start a meeting in the Zoom mobile app
2. Tap More, shown as three dots
3. Tap Background and Effects
4. Tap the plus icon to add an image from your phone

Mobile support depends on your device. Older phones may only offer blur.

If you cannot see the option

• Update Zoom. The feature has moved twice and older builds hide it
• Sign out of the desktop app and sign back in. Account level settings only apply after a fresh sign in
• On a work account, an administrator may have switched off custom uploads. That setting lives in the Zoom web portal under Meeting, In Meeting Advanced, Virtual Background
• On an older processor Zoom may offer blur only. Blur is much lighter on the CPU

Making a background that actually looks professional

A flat logo pasted across the middle of a stock photo reads as a graphic overlay, not as a room. It is the single most common reason branded backgrounds look amateur.

What works is treating the logo as a physical object in the scene. Mount it on one wall, at a believable size, in the same perspective as that wall, lit from the same direction as the rest of the room. Keep it off to one side so your head never covers it.

Leave the centre of the frame clear. That space is where you sit, and anything behind you gets cut into by edge detection.