How to change your background in Google Meet

Google Meet lets you replace what is behind you with your own image. There is one requirement people miss: custom backgrounds only work in Chrome. Other browsers show the built-in options or nothing at all.

What Meet needs from your image

• JPG or PNG
• 16:9 aspect ratio
• 1920 x 1080 is the safe size
• Leave the centre of the frame clear

Uploading your own image

1. Open Google Meet in Chrome
2. Start or join a meeting
3. Click More options, the three dot menu on the bottom toolbar
4. Choose Backgrounds and effects
5. Under Backgrounds, click the image icon with a plus on it to upload from your computer
6. Click your uploaded image to apply it

You can also do this from the green room before joining, using the effects icon on your self preview.

On a phone or tablet

The Meet mobile app offers blur and Google's own backgrounds, but uploading your own image is not supported on most devices. Set your background on a computer instead.

If it is not working

• Check you are in Chrome. This is the most common cause
• Update Chrome and reload Meet
• Work or school accounts may have effects restricted by an administrator
• Older machines may offer blur only, since blur is far lighter on the processor

Your logo will look backwards to you

Meet mirrors your own self view, which flips any text or logo behind you. Everyone else on the call sees it the right way round. Meet has no setting to turn this off, so the only way to check is to join from a second device and look at yourself.

Do not flip the image to fix it. A flipped background reads correctly to you and backwards to every participant.