A good virtual background hides a messy room and makes you look prepared. A bad one is stretched, blurry or has you partially vanishing into it. The fix mostly comes down to using the right shape and size.
The best size
Zoom backgrounds should match the shape of your video, which is almost always 16:9. A resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels is the standard recommendation, with 1280 x 720 as a minimum if you want a decent result. Anything much lower than that looks soft, since the image is stretched to fill the frame.
The same size works fine in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and most other video call apps, even though each has its own interface for uploading.
Why the shape matters
If your image isn’t 16:9, the app crops or stretches it to fit. A portrait phone photo will be cropped to a narrow slice. A square image gets its top and bottom cut off or is stretched wide. Cropping the image to 16:9 yourself lets you choose what stays visible. Our guide to aspect ratio explains the idea.
File format and size
JPG and PNG both work. JPG is usually smaller and fine for photos. Very large files can slow the app down, so you don’t need more than 1920 x 1080. If your image is several megabytes, shrink it. Our post on reducing image file size shows how.
Mirror text and logos
Zoom flips your own view like a mirror by default, so text in your background may look backwards to you while looking correct to everyone else. If you add a logo or a name to the background, check how it looks to others before you rely on it.
Picking a good background image
- Choose calm images. Busy patterns make it harder for the software to separate you from the background and cause edge flicker.
- Use brightness similar to your real room. A very bright beach behind you while you’re lit by a dim lamp looks fake.
- Stay away from fine detail near the center. You’ll be sitting there.
- Consider a company template. A simple branded background with the logo off to one side is practical for work calls.
Better results with a green screen
Zoom can handle backgrounds without a physical green screen, but a solid-colored, evenly lit wall behind you gives cleaner edges around your head and shoulders. Good lighting on your face matters more than the background image itself.
Prepare yours in four steps
- Choose an image at least 1920 pixels wide.
- Crop to 16:9.
- Resize to 1920 x 1080.
- Save as JPG at quality 80 or higher.
Our free image resizer does the resizing step. If your photo is smaller than 1280 pixels wide, expect some softness, as explained in why images look blurry.