Straight answers about Lower Third Maker. Ask a question or browse by topic — every entry is written to be accurate and to the point.
On-screen text in the lower part of the frame that identifies a speaker or adds context.
A lower third is a graphic overlay in the bottom portion of the screen, traditionally used to show a person's name and title while they speak. The name comes from its position — the lower third of the frame. It's the most common broadcast graphic on news, interviews, and video.
Both are industry terms for on-screen text; 'chyron' comes from a graphics company, 'super' from 'superimpose'.
'Chyron' became a generic word for on-screen text because Chyron was a leading maker of the character generators that produced it. A 'super' (short for superimpose) is any text or graphic laid over the video. In practice people use chyron, super, and lower third loosely for the same kind of on-screen title.
Margins that keep text and important action from being cut off on screens that crop the edges.
Title-safe and action-safe areas are inset margins from the frame edge: keep text inside the tighter title-safe zone and key action inside the wider action-safe zone. They exist because some displays overscan (crop the edges), so anything too close to the border can be cut off. Placing text a comfortable margin in from the edges keeps it readable everywhere.
Match the video — commonly 1920×1080 (HD); design at the final frame size so text stays crisp.
Design your graphics at the same resolution as your video so nothing is scaled and blurred — most commonly 1920×1080 for HD, or 3840×2160 for 4K. Build overlays on a transparent background at that exact size. If you design smaller and scale up, text and edges soften; designing at full size keeps them sharp.
16:9 for standard widescreen video; 9:16 or 1:1 for vertical/social — design per destination.
Most video is 16:9 widescreen, so design graphics for that frame. For phone-first platforms you may need 9:16 vertical or 1:1 square, where a lower third sits higher to avoid interface buttons. Decide the destination first, because a lower third positioned for 16:9 can be hidden or awkward when a video is reframed vertically.
Clean sans-serif fonts at a generous size; avoid thin weights and tight tracking that break up on screen.
Sans-serif fonts read most reliably on screen, especially over moving, compressed video. Use a medium-to-bold weight rather than a hairline, keep letter-spacing comfortable, and size text large enough to read on a phone. Thin fonts and cramped spacing are the top causes of hard-to-read lower thirds.
Add a bar, gradient, shadow, or outline so text has contrast against busy or shifting footage.
Video behind your text changes constantly, so give the text its own contrast: a semi-transparent bar or box, a subtle drop shadow, an outline, or a gradient scrim behind the words. White text with a soft shadow over a darkened strip is a dependable default. Never rely on the footage alone to stay dark enough.
Avoid pure 100% white and fully saturated reds, which can bloom or buzz; keep colors slightly restrained.
For broadcast, extremely bright pure white and fully saturated colors — especially intense reds — can bloom, vibrate, or bleed on some displays and in compression. A common practice is to pull whites slightly down from 100% and avoid the most saturated reds for large areas. For web-only video the rules are looser, but restrained colors still compress more cleanly.
A clear hierarchy: the name largest and boldest, the title smaller beneath it.
Give the primary line — usually the person's name — the most visual weight, and set the secondary line (their title or role) smaller and lighter beneath. This hierarchy lets a viewer grasp who's speaking at a glance. Keep it to two short lines; extra text crowds the frame and reduces reading time.
A quick, simple in and out — a slide or fade of a few frames — that doesn't distract from the speaker.
Keep entrance and exit animations short and clean: a slide or fade lasting well under a second reads as polished without pulling focus. Hold the graphic on screen long enough to read comfortably, then animate it out the same way it came in. Over-elaborate motion draws attention to the graphic instead of the content.
Long enough to read twice — usually several seconds — then out; re-show it if the person returns later.
A good rule is to leave a lower third up long enough for a viewer to read it comfortably a couple of times, typically several seconds, then remove it so it doesn't linger. If the same person speaks again much later, briefly re-show their name rather than leaving it up the whole time. On short social clips, show it early since attention drops fast.
Use a format that supports alpha — a PNG for stills, or an alpha-capable video codec for animation.
To overlay a graphic on video, it needs a transparent (alpha) background. Export a still lower third as a PNG, and an animated one in a video format/codec that carries an alpha channel (such as certain QuickTime or image-sequence exports). A plain JPEG or a standard MP4 won't keep transparency, so the background would show as a solid box.
Add the graphic as an overlay source above your video and show/hide it during the stream.
In streaming software such as OBS, a lower third is an image or browser/overlay source layered above your camera. You position it in the lower area and toggle its visibility (or use a scene) to bring it in and out live. Transparent PNGs or web-based overlays are common, since they sit cleanly over the video.
Templates keep every name graphic consistent and let you swap text fast without redesigning.
A template locks in position, fonts, colors, and animation so every lower third across a video or series looks consistent — you just change the name and title. That saves time and prevents the ragged look of hand-built graphics that vary each time. Consistency is a hallmark of professional-looking video.