Play Sound Effects in Zoom, Teams and Google Meet

Discord has a soundboard; work-call apps do not. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet all assume the only audio you want to send is your voice. There are still three reliable ways to play a sound into a call, ranging from zero setup to a permanent virtual soundboard. Start with the first and move down only if you need more.

Method one: play it into the mic

Open the sound on ViralMemesFX on your phone, hold it near the laptop microphone and tap play. It is crude and the quality is what you would expect, but it works in every app on every platform with no setup. For a single laugh in a team meeting this is often all you need. Turn your headset mic toward the phone speaker if you are wearing one.

All three apps can send audio from your computer into the call as part of screen sharing. Play the sound in a browser tab and the call hears it clearly, no mic involved. This is the method most people should use.

Zoom. Click Share Screen, choose the Advanced tab, then Computer Audio. Zoom shares only your system sound, with no screen, and the other side hears anything you play. Alternatively, share a normal window and tick Share sound at the bottom of the picker.

Microsoft Teams. Click Share, then toggle Include computer sound before choosing a window or screen. If you forget, you can enable it from the sharing toolbar while already sharing.

Google Meet. Click Present now, choose A tab, and make sure Share tab audio is ticked. Meet only shares audio from a Chrome tab, so open the sound in Chrome. Sharing a whole screen or window in Meet sends no sound.

In every case, open the sound page before you start sharing so the button is ready. Stop sharing when you are done, or the call keeps hearing every notification you get.

Method three: a virtual audio cable

If you want a proper soundboard that works during the whole call without sharing anything, route a soundboard app through a virtual audio device that the call app uses as its microphone.

Install a virtual audio cable. VB-Cable is free on Windows and macOS; BlackHole is a common free choice on macOS.
Install a desktop soundboard app and set its output device to the cable’s input.
In your call app’s audio settings, set the microphone to the cable’s output.
To keep talking, either use a soundboard app that mixes your real mic into the cable, or use the operating system’s audio mixer to combine both. Voicemeeter on Windows does this well.

This is the setup streamers use, and it works in every call app. The downside is the same as with Discord: if you forget to switch the mic back afterwards, your next meeting will hear nothing from you. Put a note on your desk the first few times.

Avoiding echo and feedback

The most common problem is the sound playing out of your speakers, back into your mic, and into the call a second time. Wear headphones when playing sounds, or mute your own speakers during the clip. If you use method three, make sure the call app’s speaker output is not the same virtual cable as its mic, or you will create a feedback loop that howls until someone mutes you.

Keeping it appropriate

A single well-timed sound in a friendly meeting is a good laugh. Three in a row is a problem. Prank sounds that mimic alarms, phones or doorbells are best kept out of work calls entirely; someone will act on them. The reactions category is the safer pick: crowd reactions, applause and stings that everyone reads as a joke.

Licences

All sounds on ViralMemesFX are free-licence audio or reviewed community uploads, so playing them in a call, recorded or not, needs no permission. If your meeting is being recorded for public release, the same rules as video apply: CC0 and public-domain clips need nothing, CC BY clips want a credit. The licence explainer has the details.