Related topics
×
Sign in with Microsoft
Sign in or create an account.
Hello,
Select a different account.
You have multiple accounts
Choose the account you want to sign in with.

There are a lot of ways to customize your video experience—and the video you share with others—when you join a Teams meeting or call. 

Turn your video on or off

Before a meeting

To turn on your video before a meeting, just select Camera  Camera off icon right before you join. 

Select camera icon to turn camera on

During a meeting

You might want to turn your video on and off over the course of a meeting—if you'd prefer people only see you while you're talking, for example. Go to the meeting controls anytime during the meeting and select Camera Video call button

Video off icon

Note: In the new Teams, make sure your camera turns off if your screen locks during a meeting by going to Settings > Privacy and turning on the Turn off my camera and mic when my screen locks toggle. Restart Teams to activate this setting.

Change your background

If you want to change what appears behind you in your video, you can either blur your background, or replace it entirely with any image you want.

When you're setting up your audio and video before a meeting, select Background filters Background settings(just below the video image). You'll see your background options on the right. 

Note:  If you don't see the option to turn on background effects, the feature might not be available on your device yet.

For more details about customizing your background, see Change your background for a Teams meeting.

Use video filters

Customize your video feed with the video filters like Soft focus and Adjust brightness. Soft focus creates a smoothing effect for your face over video. Adjust brightness enhances the video quality when lighting is poor. To learn more about video filters, see Apply video filters in Teams meetings.

Filters are turned off by default. To apply video filters, go to the Device Settings panel > Video Settings, then turn on the toggle next to your desired filter. 

Image showing the soft-focus effect- a woman on a Teams video meeting with an airbrushed effect on her face.

Soft focus filter

Change your view

Gallery

Gallery is the default view during a Teams meeting. On Teams for desktop, you can customize how you see your and other people's video during a meeting. Change how many people you see in the meeting window, prioritize seeing people with their cameras turned on, or reposition your own video on the screen.

Notes: 

  • Gallery view of up to 49 participant videos is only supported in the Teams desktop app.

  • When opened in a new window, Gallery view will show up to nine video participants on any device.

  • Supported devices: Windows devices with the Intel 11th generation processor (or newer) with four or more cores and Mac devices with Apple Silicon (M1 and M2 chipsets or newer).

  • To provide the best possible audio and video quality, we might decrease the number of videos you're seeing at once if you're running a little low on bandwidth or device memory.

Screenshot showing updated Gallery view during a meeting

For people who haven't turned on their videos, Teams shows their profile pic instead (or their initials if they haven't added one).

Change gallery size

Change your gallery size during a meeting to view more or fewer people in the meeting window. In Teams for desktop, you can choose to view 4, 9, 16, or 49 people at a time, depending on how many people are in your meeting. In Teams for web, you can see 4 or 9 people at a time. Other devices may show fewer participant videos based on each device’s hardware capabilities.

Note: To customize this setting, first make sure the Gallery view is selected under View  Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. .

To change gallery size:

  1. Select View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. in the meeting window.

  2. Select Select max gallery size.

  3. Choose how many people you want to see.

Prioritize videos

By default, Gallery view will show participants equally in the meeting window, whether their cameras are turned on or off. You can choose to prioritize video and see more people with their cameras on. 

Note: To customize this setting, first make sure the Gallery view is selected under View  Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. .

To prioritize video:

  1. Select View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts.  in the meeting window.

  2. Select Prioritize video.

Reposition your video

See more video feeds from others during your meeting by repositioning your video feed in the meeting window. You can place your video outside the meeting window or hide it altogether.  

Note: To customize this setting, first make sure the Gallery view is selected under View  Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. .

To reposition your video:

  1. Select View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. in the meeting window.

  2. Select More options > Remove me from gallery.

You can put your video back in the gallery by selecting View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. > More options > Include me in gallery. This setting will be remembered in future meetings.

To hide your video:

  1. Select View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. in the meeting window.

  2. Select More options > Hide me.

This option only hides your video from your view. Others in your meeting will still be able to see your video unless you turn your camera off. You can bring your video back onscreen by selecting View Image of the change your view icon- small square divided into four parts. > More options > Unhide me.

Note: The new gallery view, video prioritization, and video repositioning are available as part of the public preview program and may undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to the Teams public preview.

Large gallery

In large meetings, Teams' Large gallery view shows up to 49 participant videos in the meeting window at once. 

Large gallery view showing 49 videos at once

Note: If no one is sharing video, Large gallery won't be selectable in the menu.

When more than 49 participants join a Teams meetings, see them all in a gallery with pages. In Large gallery view, navigation controls < > appear at the bottom of the gallery when there are more than 49 participants. Use these navigation controls to view or engage with more participants.

Together mode

Feel like you're in a shared space with everyone in your meeting with Together mode. Name labels and status icons will appear next to each person, showing their names, reactions, and more.

To turn on Together mode, select View > Together mode during your meeting. Together mode is available when there are at least five people in the meeting.

Screenshot of Together mode view during a Teams meeting. 

If you're a meeting organizer or presenter, you have an assortment of scenes to choose from.

To change the scene:

  1. Select the scene name at the bottom left corner of your screen.

  2. Under Choose a scene, pick the one you want and select Apply. The scene will change for everyone who's in Together mode.

Note: The classroom scene automatically seats the meeting organizer (or whichever presenter was first to join) apart from the other participants. 

Assign seats in Together mode


To assign seats in a meeting: 

  1. Turn on Together mode in a meeting.

  2. Select Change scene > Assign seats.

    1. Under Select a participant, select and hold down a participant’s name. Then, drag them to a preferred seat to assign it to them. 

    2. Select and hold down a seat, then drag it to a participant’s name under Select a participant to assign it to them.

  3. Select Assign to apply the new seating arrangement. 

By default, everyone will see the new seating assignment in Together mode. To let attendees change their view, unselect Make this everyone’s view

Note: Only the meeting organizer can assign seats. 

2x2 (web only)

If you're using Teams on the web (Edge or Chrome browser), you'll see up to four video streams at a time. Join a Teams meeting and ask your participants to turn on their cameras to display a 2x2 grid of four participant videos at once.

Note: 2x2 video on Teams for web (Edge and Chrome) is available as part of the public preview program and may undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to the Teams public preview.

Focus

Available when content is being shared. This is the view to choose when you'd like to pay close attention to the content without the distraction of seeing people's video feeds.

Note: You'll need to turn on the new meeting experience to use Large gallery, Together mode, and Focus. 

  1. Join your meeting.

  2. In the meeting controls, select Views  and choose Focus on content.

Pin someone's video

To pin someone's video to your view regardless of who's talking, select More options More options button  in their video feed (next to their name) and choose Pin for me

Pin your own video

To pin your own video, select More options More options button  in your video feed (next to your name) and choose Pin for me. This will pin your video for your own view, others won't see you pinned. If you no longer want to be pinned, select More options More options button  > Unpin for me.

Spotlight a video

Spotlighting a video is like pinning it for everyone in the meeting. If you're an organizer or a presenter, you can choose anyone's video (including your own) to be the main video people see. 

To spotlight someone else's video, right-click on the one you want and select Spotlight

To spotlight your own video, first select Show participants. Then, under Participants, right-click your name and select Spotlight. You can spotlight anyone else's video this way, as well. 

For more details, see Spotlight someone's video in a Teams meeting

Reframe a video

Teams crops some videos to make them fit your screen better. If you want a different view of a particular video—for example, if someone’s cropped out of the video or it only shows part of their face—select More options More options button in their video feed then Fit to frame to see the entire video.

Select Fill frame to see a closer, cropped view.

When you join a Teams meeting or call on the mobile app, you can customize your video experience—and the video you share with others—in a bunch of different ways.

Turn your video on or off

Before a meeting

To turn on your video before a meeting, just tap Turn video on  Video call button  right before you join. 

Button to turn camera on and off

During a meeting

You may want to turn your video on or off over the course of a meeting—if you'd prefer people only see you while you're talking, for example. Go to the meeting controls at the bottom of your screen during the meeting and tap Turn video on Video call button

Camera button in meeting controls

Blur your background

You can blur your background before or during a meeting if you don't want others to be able to see what's behind you. You'll appear nice and clear while everything behind you is subtly concealed. 

Before the meeting, just tap Background blur Background settings in the upper left corner of your screen before tapping Join

For more details about changing your background, see Change your background for a Teams meeting.

Change your view

Customize how you see other people's video during a Teams meeting with Views . For example, in a large meeting, you may want to see as many video feeds as you can at one time.

The following examples show the default Gallery view on different devices.

Phone view example

Eight different video streams on one screen

Tablet view example

Nine different video streams on a tablet screen

  1. Select More options More options button  > Views  and choose the view you want.

    Video layout options

  2. Whichever one you choose, pinch in or out to zoom and adjust your view.

Gallery

The default view when you join a meeting. When there are more than seven others in attendance (eight if you're using a tablet), Teams features the people who have their video turned on and those who speak the most. Your video feed is always in the lower-right corner of the screen.

  • If you're using a phone, you can see up to eight featured participant videos and 15 additional people to scroll through at the bottom of the screen.

  • If you're using a tablet, you can see up to nine featured participant videos and 20 additional people to scroll through at the bottom of the screen.

Large gallery

This option's available when at least nine people have their cameras turned on. You can view up to 100 participant videos (though not all at once).

The maximum number of people you can see on your screen at once depends on your device and its software.

Device type

iOS 13 or later

iOS 12 or earlier

Android 9 or later (or greater than 4 GB RAM)

Android 8 or earlier (or less than 4 GB RAM)

Phone

10 people at once

49 people at once (lower resolution)

10 people at once

49 people at once (lower resolution)

Tablet

Nine people at once

49 people at once (lower resolution)

Nine people at once

49 people at once (lower resolution)

  • Swipe left or right to view or engage with more participants.

Together mode

Lets you feel like you're in the same shared space with everyone in the meeting. Together mode is available when a meeting has at least five people in it.

Together mode on phone

If you're a meeting organizer or presenter, you have an assortment of scenes to choose from. To change the scene, tap on the scene name in the bottom left corner of your screen. 

Under Choose a scene, pick the one you want and select Apply. The scene will change for everyone who's in Together mode. 

Note: The classroom scene automatically seats the meeting organizer (or whichever presenter was first to join) apart from the other participants.

Pin someone's video

To pin someone's video to your view regardless of who's talking, press and hold the video you want, then tap Pin for me

Spotlight a video

When a video is spotlighted, it's essentially pinned for everyone in the meeting. For now, you're not able to start or stop spotlighting on the mobile app, but when someone using the desktop app spotlights a video, that video will be spotlighted for you just like it is for people on the desktop app.

You'll also get a notification that the video is spotlighted.

For more info, see Spotlight someone's video in a Teams meeting.

Need more help?

Want more options?

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Was this information helpful?

What affected your experience?
By pressing submit, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services. Your IT admin will be able to collect this data. Privacy Statement.

Thank you for your feedback!

×