How to Make a Lyric Video (3 Ways)

A lyric video puts the words on screen as they're sung. It's the cheapest video you can make for a release, it gives people something to read while the hook plays, and it's what listeners search for when they want to sing along. This guide covers how to make a lyric video for any song, from a home recording to a Suno track, and what makes one look finished instead of thrown together.

What you need before you start

• The final mix as an MP3, WAV or M4A. Use the version you're releasing; a different edit will throw the timing off.
• The lyrics as sung. Not the draft from your notebook: the words on the final take, including repeats. One line per line you want on screen.
• Your cover art (optional). It gives the video your release's colors.

3 ways: by hand, a template tool, or a lyric video maker

By hand. Any editor works: CapCut, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, iMovie. Put the audio on the timeline, add one text layer per line, and drag each one until it starts on the first syllable and ends before the next line. Then play it back and fix the lines that start early, which will be most of them. It gives you full control and costs nothing but time.

A template tool with a timeline. General editors like Kapwing or VEED can transcribe the audio and give you captions to style. They're built for speech, so on a song expect missed lines in loud sections and words that need fixing, then timing to nudge on the timeline.

An automatic lyric video maker. You give it the song and the lyrics, and it times every word and renders the video. This is what the rest of this guide walks through, using LyricVideoGenerator, a lyric video maker built for exactly this job. We compared the other options in the best lyric video makers, tested.

How to make a lyric video, step by step

Here is how to make a lyric video with LyricVideoGenerator. Steps 1 and 2 are the only required input; the rest is there if you want to polish.

Step 1: Upload the song

Go to the lyric video generator and drop in the MP3, WAV or M4A (up to 50 MB). If the song is on Suno, paste the song link instead and the lyrics, title and cover fill in; you still add the MP3. The Suno guide covers that route in detail.

Step 2: Paste the lyrics

Paste the lyrics as sung, one line per line you want on screen. If you don't have them written down, leave the box empty and the song is transcribed first. Pasted lyrics are more accurate, especially on heavy, distorted or layered vocals.

Step 3: Pick one of 3 styles

In under a minute, 3 styles picked for your song's mood and tempo play side by side, in sync. Tap one to hear it with sound. Not feeling any of them? Shuffle a card, or browse the lyric video templates.

Step 4: Check the yellow lines

Every word is already timed to the vocal. Lines marked yellow are the ones the aligner was unsure about, usually where the vocal is buried in a loud mix. Play each one. If it's off, click Re-sync line. Click any word to fix a typo; the timing stays. More on this in why lyrics go out of sync.

Step 5: Adjust the look, if you want

Type what you want in the director box: "make the chorus bigger", "warmer colors", "one word at a time". Each change can be undone. You can also change fonts, colors and motion by hand.

Step 6: Export

Export 16:9 for YouTube, or 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Rendering runs in your browser and takes about a minute for a typical song. Free exports are 720p 16:9 with a small corner badge and a 2.5-second end card; 1080p, vertical and no badge are $9 per song or $12 a month on pricing.

What makes a lyric video readable

• Short lines. 3 to 6 words per line on a phone, up to about 8 on a wide screen. Split long lines; don't shrink the type.
• Words on time, not early. A line that appears a second before it's sung feels wrong even if viewers can't say why. Word-level timing fixes this; line-level timing only gets close.
• Contrast first. Light text on a dark background, or the reverse. Busy footage behind lyrics is the most common reason they can't be read.
• One idea per screen. The chorus can be bigger or louder than the verses. Everything else should stay calm so the words carry it.
• Safe zones in 9:16. TikTok and Reels put buttons on the right and captions at the bottom. Keep lyrics in the middle of the frame.

How to make a lyric video for YouTube, TikTok and Shorts

Post the full song on YouTube and the vertical version on Shorts, TikTok and Reels, and link between them. The vertical lyric video page covers the 9:16 layout.

Common mistakes

• Using draft lyrics. If the words on screen don't match what's sung, viewers notice in the first line.
• Timing by the line, not the word. On fast verses a whole line on screen is too much to read. Word-by-word or karaoke styles fix it.
• Cropping 16:9 to 9:16. Wide lines get cut off. Re-lay the lyrics for the tall frame instead.
• Exporting before a full play-through. Watch it once with sound, start to end, before you post.