Your stream's first impression is the layout. Every viewer sees your overlay within the first seconds — a clean border, a readable chat, and sharp game visuals keep them watching. This guide shows how to build a professional OBS overlay without any design skills, using a free generator.

What Is an OBS Overlay?

An overlay is the graphic layer shown on top of your game or camera in OBS Studio. It typically combines a webcam frame, alert boxes (follows, subs, tips), chat area, and social handles. Overlays are HTML/CSS or PNG layers, and the best ones scale cleanly to any resolution.

Stream Overlay Essentials

  • Webcam frame: a border that separates your face cam from the game to avoid visual noise.
  • Lower third / alert box: where follower and tip alerts appear without covering the action.
  • Banner area: your logo, schedule, or "be right back" screen.
  • Rule of space: leave 60-70% of the screen clear for gameplay — viewers came for the game.

How to Add an Overlay to OBS in 3 Steps

  1. Generate: build your overlay (HTML or PNG) with a generator and download it.
  2. Add as browser source: in OBS, right-click Sources → Add → Browser, point it at your overlay file or local HTML, sized to full canvas.
  3. Arrange layers: game at the bottom, camera in the frame, overlay on top — use the source list to set the depth order.

Create a free OBS overlay with the HTML generator →

The generator outputs ready-to-use HTML you can preview live in the browser, then drop straight into OBS as a local file browser source.

Layout Mistakes That Kill Retention

  • Overlaying the entire screen — hide 30-40% of the gameplay.
  • White text over bright scenes with no shadow or stroke.
  • Using fixed 16:9 frames that break when you crop your camera.
  • Forgetting the "stream safe" zones (avoid covering the HUD bottom-left and top-right).

FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

Are OBS overlays free to use?

TooliFyra's overlay generator is completely free — generate unlimited layouts without watermark, sign-up, or usage limits.

Do I need to know HTML?

No. The generator writes the overlay for you; you just customize the colors, text, and layout options in the interface.

What resolution should my overlay be?

Match your OBS canvas, usually 1920x1080. The generator outputs responsive HTML so it scales to different resolutions too.

Can I use the overlay for YouTube or TikTok?

Yes — overlays work with OBS for YouTube, Twitch, and custom RTMP streaming to TikTok and Facebook.