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How to Use Virtual Backgrounds

  • Updated

StreamYard now supports virtual backgrounds, no green screen needed!

Getting started

You can replace your background with a virtual background! In your StreamYard studio, click the "settings" button and open the “Virtual backgrounds” tab. Then you can choose from our library of built-in images (or "blur"), or upload your own! You can upload up to 30 backgrounds of your choosing at a time. 

Tips

Here are some tips to ensure the best possible experience:

  • Lighting is essential. Make sure your backdrop is uniformly lit, so using multiple light sources can help.
  • Don’t wear clothes that are the same color as your background. The more contrast the better.
  • Use a powerful computer. The virtual background feature uses your graphics processor (GPU). It can run on almost all devices, but it works best on powerful devices.
  • Sources for royalty free background images: Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash.

Virtual background not working/slow?

The virtual background feature requires hardware acceleration enabled in your browser.
This is usually enabled by default, but if it's not, it can be easily enabled in Chrome's settings.

  1. To enable hardware acceleration in Chrome, click the 3 dots at the top right of Chrome, and click "Settings".
  2. Search "hardware"
  3. Enable "Use hardware acceleration when available", and restart Chrome if asked.
    mceclip0.png

Have a real green screen behind you? Try the green screen feature instead!

Experiencing flickering/blinking?

If your device is not very powerful, or is using a lot of processing power, the Virtual Background feature can cause flickering or in some cases, turn completely black. This issue only affects Windows computers using Chrome or Edge. Here's how to solve this issue.

Adjust ANGLE graphics backend

  1. In a new Chrome (or any Chromium browser such as Edge, Vivaldi, or Opera) tab, enter chrome://flags/#use-angle into the URL bar and click enter.
  2. Under “Choose ANGLE graphics backend” change the selection from “default” to either “OpenGL” or “D3D9”.
  3. Click “Relaunch” to reboot Chrome.
    Then enter your StreamYard studio to try again!

Adjust camera resolution in StreamYard settings
If you are currently live and cannot relaunch your browser, adjusting your camera resolution under Settings > Camera in the StreamYard studio can fix the issue. We recommend lowering the resolution.

Still having issues?

Try our debugging tool here to help deduce the root of the problem:
https://hopin.videoml.team/virtual-background-debug-tool/index.html

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