Plan a 1920×1080 landscape scene
Landscape scenes usually have more horizontal room for a single-line player or a lower-third multi-line area. Start with a lyric-safe zone in the lower third or beside the performer, leaving a visible margin from each canvas edge.
Keep the camera, instrument, game or performance controls, chat panel, alerts, reminders, and captions outside that zone. If an alert can appear temporarily, reserve its maximum footprint rather than placing lyrics underneath it.
Use the same 1920×1080 dimensions for the OBS Browser Source and the scene. This keeps anchor positions predictable instead of stretching the overlay at render time.
Plan a 1080×1920 vertical scene
Vertical scenes provide less width and often include platform controls near the edges. Place the lyric zone beside or below the performer, not across the face, instrument, comments, gifts, captions, or account controls.
Begin with the compact three-line layout for a phone-first scene. Move to the standard five-line layout only when the safe area is tall enough to preserve readable line spacing. A single-line player is useful when the performer and camera need most of the frame.
Preview the complete 1080×1920 composition at phone size before going live. Text that looks comfortable on an editing monitor can become too small after mobile scaling.
Reserve space for cameras, chat, and alerts
Treat the camera box, chat or comment column, alerts, reminders, captions, and platform controls as reserved areas. Do not rely on a transparent lyric background to make overlapping content readable.
Leave enough breathing room around the lyric block for its largest expected line. Recheck placement after changing from single-line to multi-line or enabling a 3D perspective, because the occupied width and height can change.
Choose readable type and contrast
For a 1920×1080 scene, start around 32–48px for a multi-line lyric block and increase it when the overlay is viewed from a distance. For 1080×1920, start around 36–56px and verify at phone size; the valid StreamLyric font-size range is 12–96px.
Use 3 compact lines or 5 standard lines according to the available safe area. Prefer a clear font, strong contrast against the camera background, and a restrained background, outline, or shadow. White or colored text over a changing bright background needs a dark treatment; dark text needs a light enough background.
Preview the final composition at viewer size
Resize the preview to a typical phone window for vertical output and to a normal playback window for landscape output. Check the longest lyric line, line spacing, shadow, contrast, and any marquee or 3D motion.
Limit movement when cameras, chat, alerts, and reminders are already active. The lyric layer should support the performance rather than compete with every other animated element.
Step-by-step setup
- 01Set the scene canvas
Choose 1920×1080 for landscape or 1080×1920 for vertical output.
- 02Match the Browser Source
Use the same width and height so the Overlay positions predictably.
- 03Mark the safe areas
Reserve the camera, chat/comments, alerts, reminders, captions, and platform-control areas before positioning lyrics.
- 04Choose type and line count
Start near 32–48px and 3–5 lines for landscape, or 36–56px and compact 3 lines for a phone-first vertical scene; adjust after testing.
- 05Test at viewer size
Preview the longest lyric line on a phone-sized or typical playback window, then check contrast and motion before going live.
Frequently asked questions
Should I stretch one Overlay between landscape and vertical scenes?
Use dimensions and placement appropriate to each scene. A layout that reads well in 16:9 may be too small or wide in 9:16, so configure and preview each Browser Source separately.
How many lyric lines should I show?
Use 3 compact lines in a constrained or phone-first scene and 5 standard lines only when the safe area has enough height. A single-line player is the safest choice when space is limited.
Where should lyrics go when I have a camera, chat, and alerts?
Reserve those regions first, including the largest expected alert or reminder. Place the lyric block in the remaining clear zone and leave margin around its longest line.
How can I check readability on mobile?
Preview the full 1080×1920 scene in a phone-sized window, inspect the longest line and smallest expected text, and adjust font size, contrast, background, outline, or shadow before broadcasting.