Where to find the best virtual backgrounds for Microsoft Teams

A host of websites offer creative and clever background images for your Teams meetings.

Microsoft Teams now lets you use your own custom images as your virtual background. Microsoft offers a few built-in images, or you can upload your own from your photo library. But maybe you can’t find the right type of image from your own collection. Whether you’re looking for professional images for a business meeting or fun images for a social call, you can browse for wallpaper and other pictures at a variety of websites. Let’s check them out.

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Airbnb

You may not be able to travel to different parts of the world right now, but you can use background images from Airbnb to give your meetings a more exotic look. At this site, you’ll find images from France, Ireland, Norway, Mexico and other countries showing everything from a bamboo house to a home by the sea (Figure A).

Figure A

Canva

Canva mostly offers images for a fee, but you’ll also find several background images for free. Just click on an image that interests you to preview it and you can then download it as a PNG or JPG file (Figure B).

Figure B

Content Labs

At Content Labs, you’ll discover an eclectic mix of background images from the worlds of business, science, pop culture and more. Click on the thumbnail for an image you like to download it as a JPG file (Figure C).

Figure C

Fox Entertainment

If you enjoy The Simpsons, Family Guy and other Fox TV shows, you’ll find an array of background images at the page for FOX Microsoft Teams Backgrounds. The page even explains how to save and add the images to Teams (Figure D).

Figure D

Getty Images

Getty is another site that sells most of its images for a fee. But you can grab a small selection of background images for free. In Getty’s library are photos of landmarks, animals, buildings, offices and living spaces. Just click on an image that intrigues you to download it as a JPG file (Figure E).

Figure E

Hello Backgrounds

Hello Backgrounds is a perfect spot to find business-oriented images for your Teams meetings. The site boasts more than 300 photos, ranging from offices to conference rooms to living spaces to outdoor buildings and landmarks. You can browse the entire gallery or narrow your focus by choosing a specific category such as offices, meeting rooms, or skylines. You can then download each image as a small JPG file or pay $19 to snag the entire library at a higher resolution (Figure F).

Figure F

Marvel

Fans of Marvel comics, movies and superheroes should enjoy the company’s gallery of free background images. You’ll find images from several Marvel films, such as Black Panther, Dr. Strange and Thor as well as logos from The Avengers (Figure G).

Figure G

Microsoft Pride Images

Microsoft created a series of Pride images in support of the LGBTQI+ community. Scroll down to the bottom of the Microsoft Pride page and click the link to Download backgrounds. Extract the downloaded ZIP file and you’ll find more than 60 images from which to choose (Figure H).

Figure H

Pexels

Pexels offers a potpourri of background images from offices to outdoor scenes to more artistic designs. You can freely download each image and select a specific size and resolution for the file (Figure I).

Figure I

Room for Zoom

Room for Zoom provides a unique cavalcade of images for Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Most of the images are entertainment oriented with photos from popular TV shows and movies. But the site also kicks in images of living areas and famous outdoor landmarks (Figure J).

Figure J

Shutterstock

Most of the stock photos at Shutterstock require a paid subscription. But the site also provides a variety of free wallpaper images for virtual meetings. You can save each image individually, though you’ll need to set up a trial subscription to do that. Instead, download a free pack to grab them all in one shot. The pack comes as a ZIP file, so just unzip it to set up the individual images (Figure K).

Figure K

Unsplash

Unsplash offers 114 photos of rooms, homes, offices, landmarks and other images ideal for Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings. Just click the download arrow for an image you want to use and you can download it as a JPG file (Figure L).

Figure L

Wallpaper Hub

Wallpaper Hub displays an array of artistic and realistic images for download. You’ll find photos of nature, wildlife, outdoor landmarks, TV shows and movies, technology and famous people (including a few of Bill Gates). Find an image you want to download it as a JPG file (Figure M).

Figure M