How to Download and Use Fun Zoom Backgrounds

There is no doubt that the year 2021 belongs to video calling apps. Software like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet have seen a dramatic increase in downloads and usage. Zoom, with its easy-to-use interface and dozens of features, leads the race with a good margin. Today, many people use Zoom to give job interviews, attend seminars, music concerts, stay in touch with friends and family, and more. During an important meeting on Zoom, you won’t want to reveal the messy room or the background behind you.

The good news is that Zoom lets you change the background in the app. Participants will not be able to see your actual location. Instead, they can only watch the background you’re using. Zoom goes one step further and offers the ability to download custom backgrounds from a PC or Mac for use in video calls.

Functionality is essential in some scenarios. By using a custom background, you can also make the perfect first impression during video calls. Zoom only offers a few wallpapers in the software. But like I mentioned, you can opt for the custom backgrounds from local storage.

Finding high-quality, royalty-free images can be confusing. You won’t want to spend so much time on the web finding the right wallpapers for your next meeting.

Let’s talk about some of the websites that offer high quality free stock images that are royalty free. We will mention how you can find out about beautiful wallpapers, terms you can search for to filter wallpapers, and more. We will also see how you can add them to the Zoom software.

How to find funny zoom backgrounds

There are two ways to get a fun Zoom background from the web. You can either go for the royalty free websites that offer millions of images for personal use. If you want specific images, go for websites that allow creators to sell you the images for a price. Let’s go over some great royalty free websites.

Pixabay

Pixabay offers over 1.8 million free images for personal use. Open the website from the link below and find the free images right from the home screen. The default page includes photos, illustrations, vectors, etc. Go to the Photos tab and start searching for images.

Visit Pixabay

You can these backgrounds in Zoom video calls and wallpaper on desktop or mobile. So unless your work or office workers are cool, you can skip looking for beach wallpapers, abstract, or space. They will not look good on video calls.

Instead, you can search for photos of cafes, conference rooms, famous places, etc. Pixabay will present both portrait and horizontal images. Use the orientation filter at the top to display only horizontal images.

Select the images you like and click the “Free Download” button, select the resolution and you are good to go.

Unsplash

Unsplash is another great source for finding funny wallpapers for Zoom video calls. I find the Unsplash collection better than Pixabay. Unsplash offers a collection of wallpapers right on the home screen.

Visit Unsplash

You shouldn’t go for photos with vertical resolution as they won’t look good on video calls.

If you’re like me and don’t want to go overboard with the wallpaper background on Zoom, search for Desk on these websites.

For example, here on Unsplash, I searched for Desk and look at the following results in the image above. He looks professional and gets the job done. It also feels natural, and it is difficult for participants to understand that you are using a custom wallpaper as a background.

Unsplash also offers the ability to filter images with orientation and colors. Use them to quickly find relevant wallpapers.

Download paid images

Most of the time, you will find what you are looking for from the two sources above. But, if you want to take a look at the paid options, head over to Adobe Stock Images or Shutterstock and explore the image gallery.

Shutterstock also offers 10 free images for the first month. Head over to these websites as below and look at the images for the Zoom background.

Visit Shutterstock

Visit Adobe Stock

Add downloaded wallpapers to zoom

Now that you’ve downloaded these awesome wallpapers, it’s time to add them to the Zoom app. Follow the steps below for that.

Step 1: Open the Zoom app on PC or Mac.

2nd step: Tap the Settings icon in the top right corner.

Step 3: Access 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 composition or join the Zoom meeting, the software will use the selected wallpaper as the background.

Improve your zoom experience

Selecting a custom wallpaper helps you hide your messy room and allows you to make a perfect impression on the client, boss or attendees. Follow the steps above and tell us which wallpapers you downloaded to use in Zoom video calls.