Online Tool Store
· 4 min read
How to Make a Lower Third That Isn't Cropped
Manesh Jayawardhana
CIO & Co-founder
The lower third looks right in the edit. On a phone the player controls sit on top of it. On a TV the last two letters of the job title are past the edge of the screen.
Both are the same problem: the bottom of the frame isn’t as available as it looks.
Why safe areas exist
Analogue televisions overscanned — they displayed slightly less than the full signal, and the amount varied by set. Broadcasters responded with two conventions: an action-safe area, roughly the central 93%, and a title-safe area, roughly the central 90%. Text stayed inside the smaller one.
Overscan is largely historical, but the safe areas survive for a different reason: platform overlays. A phone puts play controls, a scrubber and a duration badge across the bottom of the video. Social platforms overlay usernames, captions and interface elements. A television may still crop a few percent.
So the practical rule is unchanged. Keep text inside the central 90%, and treat the bottom strip as contested.
For a 1920×1080 frame that means text inside roughly 96 pixels from each edge — and given player controls, the lower third should sit above the very bottom rather than flush to it.
How long it needs to stay up
Long enough to read twice. Around five seconds for a name and title.
Under three seconds and anyone who glances away misses it entirely. Over eight and it starts competing with the content for attention. Five is comfortable and gives a slow reader time.
If the name is unusual or the title is long, err longer — the point is that someone can read it, not that it appeared.
Design that survives compression
Lower thirds are text over moving video, which is the hardest thing for a codec to handle. Two consequences:
Contrast against the background. A semi-transparent bar behind the text guarantees legibility whatever the footage does. Text directly over video works until the subject moves and the background goes from dark to light mid-sentence.
Avoid thin fonts and fine strokes. Compression artefacts cluster around high-contrast edges, and a hairline typeface at 1080p over a moving background comes out fuzzy.
| Element | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Text position | Inside central 90% of frame |
| Vertical placement | Above the player control strip |
| Duration | About 5 seconds |
| Background | Semi-transparent bar for contrast |
| Type weight | Medium or bold, not hairline |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Placing the bar flush to the bottom edge, exactly where phone controls appear.
- Exporting at 1080p for a 4K timeline, which softens the text more than any other element.
- Using a hairline font that disappears after compression.
- Showing the lower third for two seconds because it feels long in the edit — it doesn’t to a first-time viewer.
- Forgetting that some platforms burn in captions along the bottom, which collides with the same region.
How to do it with Lower Third Generator
The Lower Third Generator positions the overlay inside the safe area.
- Enter the name and title as they should appear.
- Pick a style and keep the text within the title-safe inset.
- Export a transparent PNG at your timeline’s resolution, not lower.
- Place it on a track above the footage and hold it for about five seconds.
Other video tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a lower third stay on screen?
Long enough to read twice — around five seconds for a name and title. Under three seconds and viewers who glance away miss it.
Why keep it inside the safe area?
Because platform overlays and display overscan both eat the frame edges. Player controls on mobile sit exactly where an un-inset lower third would be.
What resolution should I export?
Match your timeline. A 1080p overlay scaled up to a 4K timeline is visibly soft, and text is the least forgiving content when scaled.
Final thought
Watch the export on a phone before you call it done. The bottom of the frame belongs to the player, and the edit window never shows you that.