Browser source

A browser source is a feature in streaming software — OBS calls it a Browser source, vMix a Web Browser input — that renders a web page, given its URL, as a video layer. Because the page's transparent areas stay transparent, the graphic composites cleanly over the video beneath it.

It's the mechanism behind almost all modern live-stream overlays. Since the source is a live web page, its content can update in real time: change a name on a lower third and it changes on air, with no re-export and no re-import. You add the browser source once, paste the URL, and size it to your canvas (usually 1920 × 1080).