Zoom has become a household name due to the confinement and telecommuting caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. Not surprisingly, up to 300 million people a day have used their video calls, so the company expects to triple its turnover this 2020. And while it is by far the best videoconferencing application for meetings and online courses, it is also excellent to connect with our family and friends.
The simple user interface of the application makes it easy to set up and join Zoom meetings on any laptop, mobile or tablet. In addition to ease of use, Zoom’s outstanding HD video and audio call quality attribute explains why it is the most popular video calling software.
But what also makes Zoom stand out from other similar apps like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams is its wide range of features. For example, Virtual Background allows us to change our background in Zoom, making our virtual experience a much more enjoyable and fun moment, because it will seem that you are having a video call from a paradisiacal beach, a jungle forest, the Golden Gate of California, with your Favorite background mascot, the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars or the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. There are backgrounds for all tastes and colors. You can either use the default virtual backgrounds or upload your own image and turn it into a very personal Zoom background.
Even though you’ve used Zoom, you may not know how to change the background. You don’t need chroma to modify it.
How to change the background in the desktop app
- Download the Zoom app for Mac or Windows if you haven’t already
- Open the app and log in
- Click on your profile picture and then Settings.
- In the left menu bar, click on the Virtual background tab (if you don’t see this tab, log in to the Zoom website, go to Settings and activate the Virtual background option).
- On the Virtual Background tab, select one of the Zoom presets or upload your own image. If you have a green screen setup, you can select that option.
- To add your own image or video, click the + icon to upload from your computer.
- Clever!
How to change the background in the mobile app
- Download the Zoom app for iOS on your iPhone or iPad if you haven’t already.
- Open the app, log in, and join a meeting.
- Touch the three dots in the lower right to open the More menu.
- Hit Virtual Fund.
- Select one of the Zoom presets or upload your own.
- Clever!
On both platforms, the effect will work best if you have a high-contrast background, specifically a green screen, but it is not necessary . If you don’t have a green screen or chroma, it will still work fine, but there may be some minor glitches.
Zoomable virtual backgrounds can help make virtual meetings more enjoyable and have the advantage of allowing us to do so from anywhere. If you want to make the video call from the couch, no one will notice thanks to your fantastic background.
As a curiosity, in the open content program of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute you will find more than 100,000 free and downloadable images of works of art that you can use as new Zoom backgrounds. With so many pieces of art to choose from, you can get creative and change the background as often as you like.
