Audio and Video
Testing Computer or Device Audio
There are two ways to join meeting audio: joining via computer or joining via telephone.
See the Testing computer or device audio help article or view the How to configure your audio/video video to test your audio before or after joining a meeting. You can also join a test meeting if you want to test your audio and familiarize yourself with meeting controls.
Joining a Meeting or Webinar by Phone
You can join a Zoom meeting or webinar by means of teleconferencing/audio conferencing (using a traditional phone). This is useful when:
- you do not have a microphone or speaker on your computer,
- you do not have a smartphone iOS or Android) while outside, or
- you cannot connect to a network for video and VoIP (computer audio)
See the Joining a meeting or webinar by phone help article for more information.
Muting and Unmuting Participants in a Meeting
As the host or co-host in a meeting, you can manage your participants, including muting and unmuting participants to manage background noise and distractions. All participants can also mute or unmute themselves, unless the host has prevented them from unmuting.
Due to privacy and security reasons, the host cannot unmute other participants without their consent. The host can either use the Ask All to Unmute option, which will prompt every user to unmute themselves, or can schedule the meeting with Request permission to unmute participants enabled, which will prompt the participants for pre-approval to be unmuted by the host.
See the Muting and unmuting participants in a meeting help article for more information.
Testing your Video
You can test your video camera with Zoom before joining the meeting to ensure the camera is working properly.
See the Testing your video for steps to walk through testing video manually.
Changing the Video Layout (Speaker View and Gallery View)
There are 3 video layouts when no one in the meeting is screen sharing: Speaker view, Gallery view, and floating thumbnail window. When someone is screen sharing, you can use Side-by-side mode or view the screen share with Speaker view. Any of these layouts can be used in fullscreen or windowed mode, with the exception of the floating thumbnail view.
You can also pin or spotlight up to 9 participants' videos.
See the Changing the video layout (Speaker view and Gallery View) help article for information on these settings.
Default Audio and Video Preferences
When joining a meeting as an attendee, you can preview your video before you join. While previewing your video, you have the option to update video settings such as your virtual background or video filters. Additionally, you can test your video at any time when you are not in a meeting.
See the Previewing your video when joining a meeting help article for more information.
Using Dual Monitors with the Zoom Desktop Client
The dual-monitor display feature allows the video layout and screen share content to be placed on two separate monitors/screens. Gallery or speaker view can be displayed on one monitor while the other monitor displays a content share. This is useful for PPT presentations and hiding notes from the participants.
See the Using dual monitors with the Zoom desktop client help article for more information.
Pinning and Spotlighting Participants' Videos
Pin video allows the host to disable active speaker view and only view up to 9 specific speakers, while other meeting participants can pin one video on their end. You can also pin videos in Zoom Rooms.
If a participant is recording locally and pins a video, the pinned video will be recorded unless the participant who is recording changes their video layout. Pinning another participant's video will only affect your local view and local recordings, not the view of other participants or cloud recordings.
The host can also spotlight up to 9 videos. Spotlight video puts a participant as the primary active speaker for all participants. All participants will only see the selected speakers as the active speakers. This feature is often used to spotlight a keynote speaker.
See the Pinning participants' videos help article for more information.
Video Enhancements and Virtual Backgrounds
Zoom has many built-in features to improve video and picture quality, as well as enhance video with Virtual Backgrounds and filters. These settings allow for a better meeting and webinar experience, as well as allow hosts and participants to add some flair to their video.
See the Video enhancements help article for more information.