There is no doubt that it belongs to the video calling applications of the year 2020. Software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have skyrocketed in download and use. Zoom leads the race by a good margin with its easy-to-use interface and dozens of features. Today, many people use Zoom to hold job interviews, attend seminars, music concerts, stay in touch with friends and family, and more. You won’t want to reveal the messy room or background behind you when you’re in an important meeting on Zoom.
The good news is that Zoom lets you change the background in the app. Attendees cannot see your actual location. Instead, they can only browse the background you’re using. Zoom goes even further and offers the ability to upload custom backgrounds from PC or Mac to use during video calls.
This feature is important in certain scenarios. You can also make a great first impression on video calls by using a custom background. Zoom only offers a few wallpapers in the software. But as I mentioned, you can choose custom backgrounds from local storage.
Finding high-quality, royalty-free images can be confusing. You won’t want to spend too much time on the internet looking for relevant wallpapers for your next meeting.
Let’s talk about some websites that offer free high-quality royalty-free images. We’ll tell you how to explore cool looking wallpapers, what terms you can search for to filter wallpapers, and more. We will also cover how you can add them to Zoom software.
How to Find Fun Zoom Backgrounds
There are two ways to get a fun Zoom background from the web. You can choose royalty-free websites that offer millions of images for personal use. If you want specific images, go to websites that allow creators to sell you images for a price. Let’s take a look at some excellent royalty-free websites.
Pixabay
Pixabay offers over 1.8 million images free for personal use. Open the website from the link below and find free images from the home screen. The default page includes Photos, Drawings, Vectors, and more. Go to the Photos tab and start the image search.
You can make these backgrounds on Zoom video calls and wallpaper on desktop or mobile. So, if your workspace or office people are not cool, you can avoid looking for wallpapers about beach, abstract or space. They will not look good during video calls.
Instead you can search for images for Cafes, Conference rooms, famous places and more. Pixabay will display both portrait and landscape images. Use the Orientation filter at the top to show only horizontal images.
Select the pictures you like and hit the ‘Free Download’ button, select the resolution and you’re ready.
remove splash
Unsplash is another great resource for finding fun wallpapers for Zoom video calls. I find Unsplash’s collection better than Pixabay. Unsplash offers a collection of wallpapers for the home screen.
You should not prefer vertical resolution photos as they will not look good during video calls.
If you’re like me and don’t want to overdo it with the wallpaper background on Zoom, search for Table on these websites.
For example, here in Unsplash, I searched for Table and looked at the results below in the image above. It looks professional and gets the job done. It also gives a natural feel and makes it difficult for attendees to understand that you are using a custom wallpaper as the background.
Unsplash also offers the ability to filter images by direction and colors. Use them to quickly find related wallpapers.
Download Paid Images
Most of the time, you will find what you are looking for from the above two sources. But if you want to check out the paid options, go to Adobe Stock Images or Shutterstock and explore the image gallery.
Shutterstock also offers 10 free images for the first month. Go to these websites as below and look at the images for the Zoom background.
Add Downloaded Wallpapers to Zoom
Now that you’ve downloaded these awesome wallpapers, it’s time to add them to the Zoom app. For this, follow the steps below.
Stage 1: Open the Zoom app on PC or Mac.
Step 2: Tap the Settings icon in the upper right corner.
Stage 3: Go to the Virtual Background menu.
Step 4: Tap the ‘+’ icon, select the downloaded wallpapers and import them into the Zoom app.
Step 5: Select the wallpaper you like and close the Settings window.
The next time you open the render or join the Zoom meeting, the software uses the selected wallpaper as the background.
Level Up Your Zoom Experience
Choosing a custom wallpaper will help you hide your messy room and allow you to make a great impression on the client, boss or attendees. Follow the steps above and let us know which wallpapers you downloaded to use in Zoom video calls.
Next: Want to master Zoom with keyboard shortcuts? Read the post below to find the ten best Zoom keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.