24 Best Zoom Office Backgrounds to Look Professional in Video Calls

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Often, your room serves as the backdrop for your Zoom meeting. However, you can’t guarantee your room will be presentable 100% of the time. It’s also not the best use of your time to spend a good five minutes before every meeting tidying up your room. 

So, what’s the solution? A realistic Zoom virtual background.

Realistic Zoom virtual backgrounds can hide any personal clutter you wouldn’t want to be seen in a Zoom meeting. Plus, you don’t need to spend too much time setting them up. All you need are a few clicks, and voila!

Running out of Zoom background ideas? Here’s a list that can help you:

1. Fine Art Zoom Background

Nothing like a little oil on canvas for a classic, refined virtual background.

Landscape with Classical Ruins and Figures, about 1725–1730, Marco Ricci. Oil on canvas, 48 1/2 × 63 1/2 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 70. PA.33

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The straight lines made by the towering structures in this painting are complimented by the curves created by trees and foliage. The brown autumn color of the leaves, grass, and murals supplement the blue sky and green foliage, too. 

Overall, these elements work together to create picturesque beauty.

There are other works of art you can use for your Zoom background, such as Van Gogh’s post-impressionist artworks or Monet’s impressionist paintings. Show your love for the arts with the classics. Your colleagues will appreciate them.

2. Bookshelf Zoom Background

There’s a reason you see books on a table during academic conferences. Books symbolize intellect. So, when you include them as part of your realistic Zoom virtual background, you don’t just exude a sense of professionalism. You also, well, look smart.

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So, why not use the Los Angeles Public Library above as your background? Through depth, this image highlights not just one but shelves upon shelves of books. This is the perfect backdrop for when you’re presenting your suggestions for a SMART approach to workplace training. Pun intended.

3. Brick Wall Background

This Zoom background prioritizes texture over depth. One look at the background and you just want to touch it.

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It may not be as fancy or art nouveau as the others on this list. But, because it’s simple, your head will pop out more when talking on Zoom.

You can opt for other brick patterns and colors, such as yellow or red.

4. Chic Lounge Setup Zoom Background

Many people love using lounge room backdrops as their virtual backgrounds. Take it a step further with a chic lounge setup.

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This realistic Zoom virtual background has a complementary blue-yellow color scheme that makes it easy on the eye. It will also make you and your colleagues feel like you’re meeting in an artsy spot.

5. Conference Room Background

There’s just something about conference rooms that evoke “innovation” and “collaboration.” It’s probably the whiteboard and long table combo. Or maybe it’s the generally clean, professional look.

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Either way, conference rooms make for great backgrounds for Zoom meetings. You can now appear more professional when you propose your business development plan.

6. Cute Cubicle Zoom Background

Cubicles may be seen as a “thing of the past” in today’s business industry. However, it’s undeniable that they still bring about a certain “office-like” charm. 

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Attend your next video conference with a cubicle background. It will go nicely with your white collared shirt and tie ensemble.

7. Dark Blue Home Office

A blue and gray color palette is soothing in the eye, especially if it’s complemented with a modern design.

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Use this dark blue home office background to give the impression you’re in a real office during your Zoom meeting. It’s a way better backdrop than your bedroom since it gives a semblance of professionalism. Just make sure you wear something professional to the meeting, too. Don’t show up in your pajamas.

8. Scandinavian Living Room

Think the picture above makes for a boring background? Try a rustic, Scandinavian living room as your realistic Zoom virtual background.

Your colleagues will appreciate the artsy touches to an otherwise rustic space–the screaming yellow pillows, abstract painting in the background, and the yellow chair. 

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Add the carpet with a cosmopolitan design into the mix and you have a gorgeous realistic Zoom virtual background your colleagues will appreciate.

9. Home Office Background

This home office space is exactly what you’d expect to see in the mansion of a Forbes 500 owner. It comes complete with wood furniture, artsy centerpieces, and a trophy case.

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Leather chair? Check.

Window to let natural lighting in? Check.

Big landscape painting behind the big boss chair? Check.

An elegant work background such as this screams business success. It’s also a perfect complement to your plain shirt.

10. Green Background

Why not showcase your advocacy in your realistic Zoom virtual background? If you’re an environmentalist, the background below is just the one for you:

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The indoor plants scream “I care for the environment.” Even the coffee-colored couch is reminiscent of towering trees. Just have some natural light illuminate your face during your meeting and you’re good to go.

11. Mahogany Brown Zoom Background

This mahogany brown background is also nature-inspired. But it has less foliage so the sense you give off is that you’re in a cabin in the woods rather than in the woods themselves.

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The monochromatic tone also gives off a nostalgic feel that will make you stand out if you wear colored clothing.

12. Minimalist Zoom Background

If you’re more of a minimalist type, this realistic Zoom virtual background is just the one for you:

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There are just enough elements in the frame to make your colleagues recognize it as a working space. The image maximizes the use of negative space, too, so it doesn’t look like it’s cluttered. Yet, the image isn’t boring since there’s just enough color (the green plant and the brown chair) that stands out. 

If you wear a colored shirt, you’ll stand out while talking, too, with this simple realistic Zoom virtual background.

13. Modern Room Background

Here’s another example of a monochromatic (but not quite) picture. Notice the predominantly white and black elements in the image. The green plant, brown-plated pictures, and the red brick wall, however, add a touch of color to the photo.

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The image isn’t just a beautiful fusion of colors and negative space. It’s also an amazing combination of rustic and modern elements. Notice the paintings, chic pillows and couch that symbolize modernity, on the one hand, and the brick wall, plants and pots that represent the rustic on the other. In a sense, the picture is a recognition of how times are changing.

Your colleagues will see you as a person with depth if you use this realistic Zoom virtual background.

14. Outdoor Home Office Zoom Background

Give your colleagues who have been cooped up for so long in their homes a breath of fresh air (literally, kind of). How? Use a patio or a veranda as your next Zoom background. 

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They’ll love the lush, green landscape in the background and the blue skies. It’s a background that relaxes and can, therefore, spark a lot of creativity.

15. Parks and Recreation Zoom Background

Parks and Recreation is a mockumentary workplace comedy series.

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Position yourself in the middle of this realistic Zoom virtual background and you’ll exude a sense of authority and strength. But more than that, you’ll make your colleagues who are fans of the show laugh. It’s one of the funny Zoom backgrounds you should try to lighten up the mood while still looking professional.

16. Coffee Shop 

Where else besides the home and the office can people get work done? Coffee shops.

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You don’t have to physically go to a coffee shop. Just use this charming realistic Zoom virtual background and you’ll feel like you’re in your favorite cafe. Make yourself a cup of coffee for the complete cafe experience.

17. Private Jet Zoom Background

Who says you can’t attend a meeting from way up high?

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This posh private jet background comes complete with leather seats, circular windows, a champagne glass, and a cockpit. Nothing else could scream I’m on cloud nine. Both literally and figuratively. 

18. Realistic Home Office Zoom Background

Remote employees usually just have a desk in their bedroom and call it a home office. But this one has organizers, shelves, containers, more than one swivel chair, and a bin — the complete set!

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Make your colleagues feel like you took the time to fix your “office space” for the meeting. They’ll appreciate your artistic eye, too, with the all-white space and hints of color that make for a visual treat overall.

19. Doorway Frame Background

Want something a little different? Why not give your colleagues a peek into your “home”?

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The picture above looks so realistic your colleagues will probably think you just accidentally left your room door ajar. The door leads to a squeaky clean hallway, so you’ll also give the impression you’re really the clean type (even if in reality, your bedroom actually looks like a jungle).

20. Space Zoom Background

There’s something relaxing about space.

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So if you use the image above as your realistic Zoom virtual background, your colleagues will even thank you for it. Who doesn’t want to see a nebula littered with beautiful stars and celestial bodies, after all? You’ll have your colleagues staring into space, just literally, hopefully.

21. Zoom Background with Bright Colors

Why not showcase your vibrant personality with a realistic Zoom virtual background filled with bright colors? 

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The picture above exudes fun, with the yellow, blue, green and pink colors that pop out wherever you look. Wear colorful clothes to your meeting and your bubbly personality will shine through wherever your colleagues look.

22. The Modern Bookshelf

If you prefer to be seen as the brainy one, there’s a realistic Zoom virtual background you can use, too: the good, old bookshelf filled with books, of course.

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But bookshelves also symbolize tradition, so if you don’t want to be seen as the old-fashioned type who doesn’t appreciate innovative ideas, go for the bookshelf with a modern twist. 

Check out the picture above as an example. Notice the modern elements, such as the books in screaming colors and the chic designs on top? Overall, it’s a picture that screams “I’m smart and I’m always open to new ideas.”

23. Whiteboard Office Background

You can show how much you value learning with the realistic Zoom virtual background below.

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It’s a classroom setting without the students and the teacher. The picture has a predominantly white color so it makes for a clean virtual backdrop, too.

24. Zoom Background with a View

Want to show your colleagues you’re all about work-life balance? The picture below is the perfect background for you.

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The seat and the lamp show you mean business if you need to, but the plants and the nature views show you value relaxing, too.

You’re not the only one who can benefit from this realistic Zoom virtual backdrop. Even your colleagues will appreciate the nature views. It’s a welcome sight for people already stressed out from all the work.

In Closing

Your online meeting impression is very important. Your colleagues can form perceptions of you in many ways. They won’t just look at your appearance and the way you speak. Believe it or not, they’ll look at your camera background, too.

That’s why you need to choose the right realistic Zoom virtual background for you. The right background shouldn’t just showcase your personality. It should also hide any personal clutter you probably have in your room. 

The good news is, there are many Zoom backgrounds you can use. You can opt for vibrant colors or monochromatic schemes. You can opt for images with modern or traditional elements, or a fusion of those. The possibilities are endless. Just experiment and you’ll find the right realistic Zoom virtual background that’s the perfect representation of you.

About the author

Nicholas Prins

I'm the founder of Launch Space. We work with global companies helping them scale lead generation through SEO and content marketing. Head over to the homepage to find out more.

By Nicholas Prins