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How to Blur Your Background in Microsoft Teams

Blurring your background in Teams takes one menu, whether you are setting it up before a call or fixing it mid-meeting.

  1. Set it before joining

    On the pre-join screen (right before clicking "Join now"), click the background effects icon to open the panel where blur is one of the listed options.

  2. Change it during an active call

    Click the "More" (β€’β€’β€’) menu in the meeting toolbar, then "Effects and avatars," which opens the same background panel without leaving the call.

  3. Choose "Blur"

    In the panel, select the "Blur" tile rather than one of the custom background images -- it is usually the first or second option listed.

  4. Check for a light-blur setting

    Some Teams versions offer both a standard "Blur" and a lighter "Blur (light)," which softens the background less aggressively while keeping more of the room visible.

  5. Apply and confirm the preview

    Click "Apply" (or it may apply live) and check the small preview thumbnail shows your background properly blurred before continuing.

How Teams tells you from your background

Teams uses on-device machine learning to distinguish a person's outline from the background in real time, then applies the blur only outside that outline -- which is why fast movement or unusual lighting occasionally causes the blur to flicker or misjudge the edge.

Blur vs. a custom background image

Blur keeps your real surroundings visible but softened, while a custom image fully replaces the background -- blur is generally more reliable in low light or with cluttered rooms, since a full replacement depends more heavily on clean edge detection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does background blur work on every device?

It requires a certain amount of processing power, so very old or low-spec devices may not offer the option, or may offer only a lighter version of it. It generally works on the Teams desktop and mobile apps, with some limitations on the browser version.

Can I set blur to turn on automatically for every meeting?

Some Teams versions let you set a default background effect in Settings > Devices, so it is applied automatically each time rather than needing to be turned on per meeting.