Lower Thirds
Also known as: Chyron, Super
What Are Lower Thirds?
Lower thirds are the text graphics laid over the bottom of a video frame to say who is speaking, where a scene takes place or where the footage comes from. The name points to the lower band of the picture rather than an exact third, and for broadcast the graphic stays inside the title-safe area, which SMPTE ST 2046-1 puts at 90% of the frame’s width and height.
Most plates hold one to three lines, known as tiers: a name, then a role or place, and sometimes a date. North American newsrooms also call them chyrons, after the Chyron character generator.
Which Lower Third Should You Use?
Choose the number of tiers from what the viewer needs to know at that moment. In an interview clip, the guest gets a two-tier plate the first time they speak, and the city gets a single line over the opening shot.
| Use | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Someone speaks on camera for the first time | Two tiers: the name, then the role or organization | Viewers learn who is talking and why to listen in one glance |
| The story moves to a new place | One tier: the place, plus the date when it matters | A single line tells viewers where they are before anyone speaks |
| Footage from an earlier date or another source | A third tier with the date filmed, or a one-line credit | Viewers can tell archive or borrowed footage from new material |
| A song, a quote or a product takes the spotlight | A single line with the title and its artist, author or brand | It credits the work without stopping the video |
| Scores, prices or headlines that keep changing | A ticker band along the bottom edge | A ticker is its own band, so the name plate above it can stay put |
How Many Characters Fit in a Lower Third?
In our CE.SDK test, between 20 and 31 characters, depending on the typeface. A bold 64 px name in an 864 px plate, under half a 1080p frame’s width, held 20 characters in Montserrat, 26 in Roboto and 31 in Roboto Condensed or Oswald. With Text Auto Scale down to 40 px, a 37-character name shrank to 51 px and a 58-character one lost its second line.
How Long Should a Lower Third Stay on Screen?
At least as long as it takes to read once the plate has fully appeared, and subtitle reading rates give that floor. The BBC’s subtitle guidelines work from 160 to 180 words a minute, about a third of a second per word, and add time when a lot is happening in the picture.
Count about 0.33 seconds per word, then add the animation
A two-line plate, Priya Raman-Castillo over Head of Research, Coastline Institute, holds seven words, so it needs about 2.3 to 2.6 seconds at the BBC’s rates. Netflix allows adult subtitles up to 20 characters a second, which gives 2.9 seconds for its 57 characters. Entrance and exit animations come on top of that.
How Lower Thirds Work in CE.SDK
In CE.SDK video projects, a lower third is a text block, alone or grouped with a shape, saved in a template that your users or your data fill in. The demo below shows video placeholders that people can edit only where the template allows.
Lock the design, leave the words open
When users should change only the name and role, save the plate as a locked template and make both lines placeholders. The text can carry its own background color, or sit on a shape in a group, so the bar moves and scales with the words.
Fill the names from data
When the names come from a guest list or a form, put a text variable in each line of the template. The same template then fills in the editor on web, iOS and Android, and on a server, where a batch of clips can export without anyone opening it.
Give long names a minimum size
When names can run long, turn on Text Auto Scale with a minimum, so a long name shrinks on one line instead of wrapping. Test the plate with your own users’ names, since W3C notes that some cultures use much longer ones. If a name still does not fit at the minimum, CE.SDK sets text/hasClippedLines, which your app can check before export to ask for a shorter form.
Time it on the timeline
When the plate goes over video, place it where the speaker’s first line begins and give it an entrance and an exit text animation. Web, iOS and Android all include the timeline, and on the web a plate designed in a motion tool can come in as a transparent WebM.
FAQs
Yes. Chyron is the North American newsroom word for the same graphic, taken from the Chyron character generator, an early digital machine for putting text on a broadcast picture in the 1970s. Super is another common name for it.
Higher than it would sit on TV. In a 9:16 clip for Reels, TikTok or Shorts, the app draws its own text and buttons over the bottom of the picture, so a plate placed for 16:9 ends up underneath them. Raise it above that band and check a frame with the app open. The 9:16 aspect ratio entry has the rest.
Save it in a format with an alpha channel, the part of the file that marks where the video underneath should show through, and place it on a layer above the footage. On the web, CE.SDK imports transparent WebM video, so a plate animated in a motion design tool keeps its see-through background in the editor.
Links
Documentation and references for this concept.
Video Editor SDK
Build video templates that your app fills from user input or from your data.
Text Variables
Put variables for a name and a role in a template and fill them from your data.
Auto-Size Text
Scale text to a fixed box between a minimum and maximum size, and detect clipped lines.
Related Terms
Caption
A timeline-synchronized text overlay in CE.SDK's video editor for adding subtitles or on-screen text, imported from subt…
Timeline
The time-based editing interface in CE.SDK's video editor where users sequence, trim, and synchronize all media elements…
9:16 Aspect Ratio
An upright frame with 16 units of height for every 9 of width, the shape of vertical video on YouTube Shorts, Reels and …
Text Animation
An effect that moves on-screen text, such as a fade, a slide or a typewriter reveal, applied to the whole block or split…