Microsoft Teams is getting a refreshed set of animated backgrounds in reportedly the biggest update to the virtual backgrounds in Teams since the original collection launched in 2020. With these options users will be able to replace their messy background with a picturesque scene.
Microsoft Teams will first get a new set of still images and then some animated versions later this year.
“Featuring all-new images, the reimagined visual library for Teams has been thoughtfully designed to represent the people that use them and how they work best,” Microsoft design team said in a blog post today.
“Looking at the popularity of certain images, we noticed that customers are equally enthusiastic about being depicted in fun and imaginative scenes as they are being portrayed in realistic spaces like a coworking space, office, or home,” it added.
Availability
The new backgrounds will be rolling out for Microsoft Teams’ 300 million monthly active users. Teams is currently available in 181 countries and 44 languages.
Six background categories
Microsoft Teams will now have six categories of backgrounds. These include categories that have contemporary backgrounds, options that focus on wood and light and some related to nature (clouds or mountains).

“For the new backgrounds rolling out, the team leveraged insights from the studies and semiotic reports from researchers across Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub conducted on The Future of Work, an initiative to use research for a future of work that is meaningful, productive, and equitable,” the company said.
Microsoft Teams green screen
Last month, Microsoft Teams got a new feature in public preview that enabled users to provide an enhanced virtual background effect. Green screen will allow users to “show a prop or other object in your hand to be more visible to other meeting participants.” Green screen feature was only supported on Windows and Apple mac PCs with Intel chips when it was announced.