Lyric video backgrounds and fonts: what to use and what you can legally use
The background and the font decide whether a lyric video looks like part of the release or like a rushed upload. The background has to support the song without fighting the words, and the font has to be readable in a second on a phone. Here are the backgrounds that work, where to get footage you're allowed to use, and how to choose a font — with the licenses checked on 25 October 2026.
Five backgrounds that work
| Background | When it works | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| The cover, blurred and darkened | Any single: it matches the release and you own it | A very dark cover gets muddy: lighten the text, not the image |
| The official music video | Focus singles with a video already shot | Bright, fast scenes: darken more |
| Artist photos that fade into each other | Albums, ballads, acoustic songs | Photos you don't own (ask the photographer) |
| A plain color | Minimal designs, lyrics that carry the song | It can look flat without some movement in the text |
| Stock footage (sky, city, road, sea) | Songs without visuals of their own | Footage that has nothing to do with the song |
The first two are the strongest because they already belong to the release: someone who sees the lyric video recognises the single, and there's no license to check. For the vertical version, the same background is reframed to 9:16 — see the video sizes for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
Free footage you can legally use
“No copyright background” is how people search for it, but stock clips are still copyrighted: what changes is the license. As of 25 October 2026:
| Site | Free, commercial use | Credit required | Main restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pexels | Yes | No (appreciated) | Don't sell clips unaltered; don't show identifiable people in a bad light or as endorsing you; don't use them as a trademark |
| Pixabay | Yes | No (appreciated) | Don't sell or distribute clips as-is; no commercial use of recognizable brands or logos in the clip; don't use them as a trademark |
Two rules beyond the licenses:
- Don't use scenes from films, series, anime or other artists' videos. They aren't yours to publish, and on YouTube a claim can block the video or take the revenue.
- Download from the site itself and keep the page link. If someone questions the clip later, you can show where it came from.
How to choose a font
Each line is on screen for a few seconds, often on a phone, often with the sound off. The font has one job: to be read at a glance.
- Bold or semibold sans serif for the lyrics. Thin weights disappear over video.
- Large. If you can't read it on your own phone at arm's length, it's too small.
- One font for the lyrics, at most one more for the title or a highlighted word. Script and decorative fonts belong there, not on every line.
- Every character of your lyrics. Accents, ñ, ç, or non-Latin scripts: check before you design, not at export.
- Contrast before color. White or very light text over a darkened background reads best; a soft shadow helps over bright footage.
- Away from the edges in vertical video. On TikTok, Reels and Shorts the buttons and caption cover the sides and bottom.
The visual style (one word at a time, karaoke fill, scrolling list) changes what font size works; the three kinds of lyric video explains the differences.
Font licenses: what you can do
Most Google Fonts are released under the SIL Open Font License (OFL). Its FAQ says you can use the fonts for any design work — video titling is one of its examples — that a graphic made with an OFL font is not subject to the license, and that you remain its author. What you can't do is sell the font file by itself.
Fonts from other places (marketplaces, a designer, the ones bundled with an editor) have their own license. Some free fonts are “personal use only”: those can't go in a release you promote or monetise.
Backgrounds and fonts in TONTRIA Clips
In Video Lyrics you paste the song's Spotify or YouTube link, and the background starts as the official cover, blurred and darkened behind the sharp cover. From there you can:
- Use the video as the background: upload the music video or bring it from YouTube; the lyrics go on top, with darkening and blur.
- Add photos that fade into each other behind the cover.
- Turn on a moving background: a very slow zoom so a still image doesn't look frozen.
- Pick a template — 8 of them, with a solid color background in some — in the lyric video templates, each with the font that suits it.
- Change the font: 20 on the free plan, more than 220 on paid plans, plus text color, size, position and a soft shadow for light backgrounds.
The free plan gives 30 credits once, without a card: about seven lyric videos of three and a half minutes, in 720p with a watermark.
Sources
checked October 25, 2026