How to add animated backgrounds to Google Meet

Planted November 10, 2024

I’ve been a fan of the ‘This is fine’ meme for a long time, to the point where I use a version of this as my background image for Google Meet calls.

I have noticed that Google Meet allows for animated backgrounds via their default backgrounds, but there was never a way to add your own custom background to Google Meet.

Recently I came across a post via my RSS app, where Jeff Triplett managed to source a great animated version of the this is fine background to be used for as a Zoom background.

After following the instructions, I managed to get a copy of the background without any issues but that was when I remembered, that my workplace only uses Google Meet for calls, and Google Meet still doesn’t allow you to upload custom animated backgrounds.

Before giving up, I decided to do a quick search to see if there was a way of uploading a custom video background and I was surprised when I stumbled across this medium article that explained how to add the background step by step!

The steps involved messing around with the input div on the Google Meet’s background upload button, to accept mp4 and gif file formats, and after adding that snippet of code in and trying to select a background to upload, I found that it was possible to upload my mp4 file to my Google Meet and select my animated background 🎉

I can’t wait to see the reaction from the folks at work during my next few meetings.

I guess you can say… this is fine 🔥