How to Blur or Change & Set Custom Background in Skype Meeting Video Calls

Skype has introduced the ability to change background or to blur the background during video calls, conference calls or video meetings. With the increasing importance of social distancing in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic, the many workers and educators who are required to work from home have to rely on many video conference, video-telephony and online distance education learning software solutions.

One of the popular video teleconferencing app is Skype from Microsoft. Skype allows users to have voice or video calls online for up to 50 persons, and have easy video meetings with no sign ups or downloads with meeting links that never expire, in addition to calls to landline and mobile devices.

If you’re one of the users of Skype, the ability to set custom background and blur the background when having video calls has came with the release of new update of Skype for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Web version 8.59.0.77. However, do note that if you’re using Skype for Windows 10 (version 14), you can only blur the background, while custom background is not available.

Here’s tutorial on how you can set a custom background for Skype video calls.

How to Blur or Use Custom Background During a Video Call in Skype

1. During a call, hover the mouse over the Video button button or click the More menu.
2. Click Choose background effect for Skype for Mac and Linux. On Skype for Windows you can only blur the background, so skip to next step.
3. Toggle the Blur my background to On to blur the the room you’re in currently. If you prefer to customize the background, choose an image you previously added, or Add a new image to customize your background effect.
   Image should be in landscape orientation and must be located locally on the device that you’re using for Skype video calls.

Before a call is started, the option to customize background effect is available to configure on the call screen too, which can make sure that you have your favorite background for the entire length of the video call.

It’s also possible to set Skye to always blur your background or use a custom background during video calls by following these steps. This option is not yet available in Skype for Windows 10.

How to Always Blur or Customize Background for All Video Calls in Skype

1. On Skype, click your profile picture.
2. Select Settings from the menu.
3. Go to Audio & Video.
4. Under Choose background effect, you can Blur the room you’re in currently, choose an image you previously added, or Add a new image to customize your background effect.