Use a Video as Your Webcam in Teams, Google Meet and Discord

Once a virtual camera is running on your machine, every app that accepts a webcam can use it — including Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Discord. What differs is where each one hides the camera setting, and a few quirks worth knowing before a call starts.

If you have not set up a virtual camera yet, start with the Zoom walkthrough, which covers installation in detail. The setup is identical for the apps below; only the selection step changes.

One rule that applies everywhere

Start the virtual camera app before you open the video app. Teams, Meet and Discord all build their camera list at launch. A camera that appears afterwards is usually invisible until you restart — and in Teams' case, until you fully quit it rather than just closing the window.

Microsoft Teams

1. Click the … menu next to your profile picture, then Settings
2. Open Devices
3. Under Camera, select CamLooper Virtual Camera

Mid-call, open More → Settings → Device settings and change the camera from the panel on the right.

Teams keeps running in the notification area after you close its window, so "restarting" it means quitting from the tray icon (Windows) or the menu bar (macOS). Closing the window alone will not refresh the device list.

Google Meet

Meet runs in the browser, so the camera list belongs to the browser rather than to Meet.

1. In a meeting, click the … menu, then Settings
2. Open the Video tab
3. Choose CamLooper Virtual Camera under Camera

Two browser-specific things catch people out. First, the browser must have camera permission for meet.google.com — if you have ever denied it, the dropdown will be empty regardless of which cameras exist. Second, Chrome and Firefox enumerate devices when a tab requests them, so if the virtual camera started after you opened Meet, reload the tab.

Discord

1. Click the gear icon next to your name to open User Settings
2. Choose Voice & Video
3. Pick CamLooper Virtual Camera under Video Settings
4. Use Test Video to confirm before joining a call

Discord's preview is a reliable check: if your video plays there, it will play in a call.

Aspect ratio and quality

These apps crop to fit their tile, which is usually 16:9. A vertical or square video will be pillarboxed or cropped, so match your source to 16:9 where you can. 720p is enough for a call — most conferencing apps re-encode well below 1080p anyway, and a smaller file loops more smoothly on modest hardware.

Other apps

The same virtual camera works in Slack, Webex, Skype, Jitsi, Streamlabs and OBS. The pattern is always the same: find the camera or video device setting, and pick the virtual camera. If an app lists your real webcam but not the virtual one, it almost certainly needs restarting.