How to blur the background during a Skype video call

Tidying up the room you are in to make a Skype video call is now unnecessary. After integrating the feature into Teams a few months ago, Microsoft is officially launching the ability to blur the background during a video call in Skype.

The primary utility of this mode is obviously to highlight the main interlocutor by obscuring everything around him. To achieve this, the Redmond firm uses artificial intelligence capable of distinguishing human shapes: hair, arms, hands, all parts of the body are automatically detected and excluded from the blurring applied in the video.

A feature that American political analyst Robert Kelly, who spoke on the BBC in March 2017, would most certainly have appreciated.

To prevent such a situation from happening to you, here are the steps on how to blur your background in Skype.

1. Download the latest version of Skype

To take advantage of the function of blurring the background during a Skype video call, first update the software by downloading and installing its latest version.

Download Skype for Windows (Free)
Download Skype for Mac (Free)
Download Skype for Linux (Free)

2. Apply blur during a video call

Open a new conversation and start a video call with the person you are talking to. You have two options for accessing the option to blur the background.

The first is by right-clicking on the video stream from your webcam to bring up the context menu in which the option is displayed.

The second, by hovering over the video call icon to bring up the Video settings window overlaid.

All you have to do is activate the Blur my background option to hide everything behind you in real time during your conversation.