Virtual Background
Virtual Background allows you to replace, blur, or modify your camera background without a physical green screen, or use chromakey with a physical green or blue screen. You find it in the studio settings.
Virtual Background works on your video only. Your audio is handled separately by AI noise reduction (Studio Sound), and the two can be used together.
Modes
AI Background Removal (No Green Screen)
When you don’t have a physical green screen, AI-powered segmentation separates you from your background:
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| None | No effect, original background |
| Min Blur | Light background blur |
| Max Blur | Heavy background blur |
| Image | Replace the background with an image |
| Video | Replace the background with a video |
| Screenshare | Use your screen share as the background |
Green Screen Mode (Physical Backdrop)
When you have a physical green or blue screen, switch on green screen mode and set:
- Backdrop color - Green or blue
- Intensity (1-100) - How strictly the backdrop color is matched
- Softness (1-100) - How soft the edges around you are
Beautification
Skin smoothing for your camera image. Turn it on and pick a level from 0 to 100.
Mirroring
You can mirror your camera image for the stream itself, not just for your own preview, so viewers see the mirrored image too.
Your Backgrounds
You can add background images and videos from:
- Computer Upload - Select an image or video file
- AI Generated - Create one with the Generate Image feature
- Screen Share - Use your screen content as the background
- Library - Pre-existing system backgrounds
When you upload a background as the editor, it goes into your media library. When you upload one as a speaker or guest, it is kept only in your browser on that device.
Performance
Virtual background uses a lot of CPU and GPU. The first time you enable it, you must acknowledge this resource usage before it starts.
After you turn it on, evmux checks your frame rate for about 15 seconds. If your computer cannot keep up with a smooth 25 frames per second, you see the message “System working too hard for virtual background”. The quality preset is chosen automatically to match your graphics hardware.
Platform Support
| Platform | Virtual background | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome / Edge on a computer | Yes | The only supported way to run the studio |
| Firefox on a computer | — | The studio is blocked in Firefox, so the question never arises |
| Safari on a Mac | — | Also blocked from the studio entirely |
| iPhone / iPad (Safari, and every iOS browser, since they are all Safari underneath) | No | This is what “not available in Safari” means: the mobile case. The Virtual Background section is not shown on phones and tablets at all |
In short: virtual background is a desktop Chrome/Edge feature. “Safari” in evmux always means an iPhone or iPad — a Mac user cannot open the studio in Safari in the first place. See Browser Support.
Best Practices
- Test before live - Verify performance with the preview
- Good lighting - Improves AI segmentation accuracy
- Solid background - Better results with uniform backgrounds
- Use a physical screen - If performance is an issue
- Watch for performance warnings - They mean your computer is struggling
- Expect resource usage - Virtual background uses significant CPU/GPU