Lower Third

A lower third is the text graphic in the lower part of a video frame that tells the viewer who is on screen, what their role is, or where the scene takes place. The name comes from where it sits: in the bottom third of the picture, clear of the speaker's face. News, interviews, documentaries, podcasts, livestreams and church services all use them.

Left of the line: the transparent file iArt exports, shown on a checkerboard. Right: the same file over interview footage (free stock from Mixkit).

Why lower thirds matter

Viewers who join partway through, watch without sound or scroll past a clip need to know who is talking. A lower third answers that in a glance and gives the speaker's credentials, which is often why a viewer keeps listening. It also carries the show's look: the same design on every speaker makes a channel or broadcast recognisable, and the name spelled correctly on screen is a courtesy to the guest.

Where lower thirds are used

• Interviews and podcasts: the host and each guest, with their role.
• News and corporate video: speaker, title and location, often with a LIVE tag.
• Documentaries: a quiet name and one line of context.
• Livestreams: the streamer's handle, what they're playing or doing, sometimes a follow or subscribe reminder.
• Church services and events: the speaker, the sermon series, scripture references, song titles.
• Tutorials and webinars: the presenter and the topic of each section.

What a lower third is made of

• The name line: the person or place, in the largest type.
• The title line: role, organisation or context ("Founder, Northwind", "Sermon series: Rooted"), smaller.
• A backing: a bar, panel, shadow or hairline that keeps the text readable over any footage, bright or dark.
• An accent: a brand colour, a rule or a small mark that ties it to the show.
• Often a bug: a small logo or label in a corner that stays on screen for the whole segment.

Conventions that make them work

• Position. Lower left or lower centre, kept inside the title-safe area (a margin in from the frame edges), so no screen or platform crops it.
• Timing. On screen long enough to read twice without hurrying, plus the move in and out. Show it when a person first speaks, not before.
• Consistency. Every speaker gets the same design in the same place, so viewers learn where to look.
• Legibility over motion. The animation should finish before the viewer starts reading; the hold is still.

Transparent lower thirds and file formats

A lower third is laid over other footage, so the file has to carry transparency (an alpha channel) or be keyed out:

• WebM with alpha (VP9): plays with its transparency in OBS Studio and in web browsers. Premiere Pro does not read WebM alpha.
• ProRes 4444 (.mov): the usual choice for Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut; it keeps the alpha channel.
• PNG sequence: one image per frame with transparency; universal but bulky.
• Green screen MP4: no alpha; the green is removed with a chroma key, which can leave fringes on thin text.

MP4 (H.264) has no alpha channel, so an MP4 lower third without a green background shows as a black box.

How to make an animated lower third

Templates (from motion template libraries or video editors) give you a fixed design to type into. The other way is to describe it: in iArt's lower thirds maker, you write the names, the style and that it is a transparent overlay, and Claude Opus 5.5 draws it in code. The text is real type, so it is spelled exactly as written, and the export is a transparent WebM. To use it in a stream, see how to add animated lower thirds in OBS.

A broadcast-style lower third with a LIVE chip and a location tag, over interview footage.

Lower third vs. related terms

• Title card: a full-screen title, usually at the start of a video; a lower third shares the frame with the footage.
• Bug: a small persistent logo in a corner; a lower third comes and goes.
• Subtitles / captions: the spoken words, running continuously; a lower third identifies, it doesn't transcribe.
• Chyron: a common US name for the same on-screen text graphic, after the Chyron character generator used in broadcast.

Related: motion graphics, kinetic typography, church motion graphics.