Microsoft has launched the general availability of Teams optimisation for Amazon WorkSpaces, aiming to improve the virtual desktop experience for remote and hybrid workers.
Until now, users faced latency, inconsistent audio-video quality, and high system load when using Teams on WorkSpaces.
The optimisation moves audio and video processing from the virtual machine to the user's local device, promising a more reliable collaboration experience.
The feature was first tested in a public preview from September 2025. Microsoft used feedback from early adopters to address edge cases and refine the solution.
“With Teams VDI2 optimization, we are delivering innovative capabilities that transform virtual desktop performance, offering rich functionality, smooth audio and video experiences, and exceptional reliability, said Juan Rivera, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft.
"By enabling direct endpoint routing for media traffic, organizations can provide employees with the high-quality Teams experience they expect while maintaining flexibility and optimizing infrastructure costs.”
The rollout reflects the increasing pressure on cloud-based virtual desktop environments to handle the demands of remote collaboration.
As organisations rely on video conferencing more heavily, even minor performance issues in virtual desktops can disrupt workflows and cause frustration for employees.
“The feedback from customers helped us fine-tune the experience, tackle edge cases, and make sure the solution worked for organisations of all shapes and sizes," AWS said in a blog post.
Multimedia Offloading
The core change introduced by the optimisation is multimedia offloading.
Audio and video processing, which previously occurred entirely within the virtual machine, now runs on the endpoint device.
This reduces latency, minimises dropped frames, and frees up the virtual machine to handle other tasks.
For users, this means meetings should be smoother, calls should sound clearer, and video should remain in sync even in less-than-ideal network conditions.
By shifting the processing workload, the optimisation addresses one of the long-standing criticisms of virtual desktop infrastructure: that high-bandwidth applications such as video conferencing often strain limited VM resources.
The change represents a more efficient use of both client and server resources and is a response to enterprise demand for consistent user experiences across hybrid work environments.
How Teams Optimisation Works
When Teams is launched inside a WorkSpaces virtual machine, the MS Teams VDI Bridge detects that it is running in a virtual environment and opens a virtual channel to the endpoint device.
