How to freeze your camera on Zoom

Published 6 November 2026. Last updated 6 November 2026.

What Zoom's own buttons do

Zoom's help page on showing and hiding your video covers Stop Video and Hide Self View. We found no freeze option in Zoom's help pages. Here's what the nearby buttons do:

If your video freezes when you don't want it to, that's a different problem. Start with Zoom's troubleshooting guide for frozen video.

Ways to freeze your camera on Zoom, compared

Every option here except Poof installs something on your computer, usually a virtual camera: software that shows up in Zoom's camera list like a webcam. Details come from each tool's own page, read on 6 November 2026, so check before you buy.

How to choose:

• You also use Teams or Meet: pick a virtual camera app. Poof only works in Zoom.
• You want a true still frame at a key press: FreezingCam, FrostCam and FreezeCam are built for that.
• You don't mind some setup and want it free: OBS Studio.
• You're on Zoom and don't want to install anything: Poof.

Freeze or loop: which looks better?

A still picture is the simplest thing to make and the easiest to misread. Someone who doesn't move for a few minutes looks like a stuck connection, and a colleague may stop to ask if you're still there. That's our view, not a measurement.

A loop keeps you moving, but a plain loop has its own problem: the jump when the clip restarts. Poof plays your clip forwards, then backwards, so it never jumps back to the start. Our guide on how to loop a video on Zoom covers the loop options in detail.

How to freeze your camera with OBS Studio

1. Download OBS Studio and add your webcam as a source.
2. Set up the freeze. OBS has no one-click option. Forum users describe a third-party freeze filter, or a media source that holds its last frame.
3. Click Start Virtual Camera in the Controls dock. On macOS, approve the system extension when asked. On Windows, if it's missing, the OBS troubleshooting page has the fix.
4. In Zoom, go to Settings, then Video, and choose OBS Virtual Camera. Forum users say to start it before opening Zoom, and restart Zoom if it isn't listed.

OBS has to stay open the whole time. Some users report lag in Zoom, so try it before a meeting that matters.

How to step away with Poof, with nothing to download

1. Add Poof from the Zoom App Marketplace. If your Zoom account is managed by an organization, your admin may need to allow it first.
2. Join a meeting with your camera on, click Apps and choose Poof. Allow Camera Mode when Zoom asks.
3. Capture the empty room, then record a 10, 15 or 30 second stand-in in your normal browser.
4. When the doorbell rings, click Step away or press Ctrl Shift B (Cmd on a Mac). Click I'm back to return to your live camera.

The user guide has the details. Your clip is encrypted on your device before upload and deleted within 24 hours, as the privacy policy explains.

Before you step away

• Say so in the chat. "Back in five" takes two seconds, and for anything longer than a coffee run it's the polite move.
• Mute yourself. A freeze or a loop changes your video, not your audio. Your microphone stays live unless you mute it. Poof can do this for you with Mute me while I'm away, and offers to unmute you when you're back.
• Keep it short. Your stand-in can't answer a question, of course.

When not to use this

Don't use Step away or Vanish where you're required to be present and visible: exams, assessments, identity checks, court or official hearings, or anywhere an employer or organizer requires your live attendance. The same goes for a one-on-one, or any meeting where people are counting on you to answer. Turn your camera off, say you'll be back, and let them see that you've stepped out. See the terms.

Questions