How do I change the background?

Add a video behind the lyrics

Use Background → Video → Add a video, then each card’s Plays on menu to choose where it plays.

1. Choose a style that supports videos: Widescreen, Postscript, Folio, Behind or Flicker.
2. Open Background → Video. Image holds the cover and still-background choices.
3. Choose Add a video, then Free clips to pick from the library, or Your own video to upload. For your own file, confirm you own it or have permission, then choose Use this video.
4. Wait for it to get ready. It plays silently; your song supplies the sound.
5. Add up to four videos. Each card's Plays on menu places it on All, Choruses, Verses, Intro & outro, Bridge, Instrumental gaps or Specific sections, as available for your song. For Specific sections, tick the sections under that card.

All provides the base video. Named sections override All; Specific sections override those. If two clips have the same placement, the later clip wins. A section with no assigned video returns to the style's artwork. Use Change or Remove on a card to replace or remove it.

Choose Image and a background to return to a still. Use these videos restores the videos you already added. Each style remembers its background choice.

Your own videos can be MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 60 seconds and 100 MB. For Spotify Canvas, videos need to be at least 3 seconds. Canvas uses the first video; the section placements above are for lyric videos.

Each style has its own set of backgrounds, from your cover art to papers and moving scenes, and you choose between them in the Background row.

Step by step

1. Find the Background row:
   • On a computer with a tall screen, it's on the main panel under Lyric size. On a shorter screen, open More ways to tweak it.
   • On a tablet, open More ways to tweak it.
   • On a phone, tap the More tab.
2. Tap a background. The preview changes at once.

The row only appears when the style has more than one background.

Common choices

Background	What it is
Our pick	We pick a background that suits your song
Your cover	Your cover art behind the lyrics. Each style shows it its own way: gently moving in Widescreen, through the window in Departure, on an old screen in Marker.
Lyrics only	Just the lyrics, no picture
Photocopy	Grainy photocopied paper
Newspaper	Grey newspaper with the print showing through
Paper	Paper that changes as the song goes
Paper & cloth	Paper and fabric that change as the song goes
Brown paper	Brown parcel paper
Coloured	A wash of colour from your cover
City night, Road, Sea, Sky	Moving scenes: a city at night, a road rolling by, slow waves, a drifting sky
Plain dark	A plain dark background
Old film	Flickering old film
Cycle	Changes with each part of the song (Behind and Textmode)

Every style's backgrounds

Style	Backgrounds
Xerox	Photocopy, Newspaper, Lyrics only
Xerox Poster	Lyrics only, Newspaper, Your cover, Crumpled, Print, Dust
Deck	Two inks, Your cover, Black
Broadside	Poster stock, Crumpled, Card, Canvas, Flat ink (plus a Print row: Our pick, Your cover, Lyrics only)
Widescreen	Your cover, City night, Road, Sea, Plain dark, Fabric, Rain on glass, City lights, Smoke & ink, Caustics, Light leaks, Fog, Satin
Postscript	Your cover, Bokeh, City lights, Rain on glass, Light leaks, Satin, Paper, Linen
Marker	Our pick, Paper, Paper & cloth, Chalkboard, City night, Sky, VHS, Light leaks, Rain on glass, Crumpled, Space, Tunnel, Liquid, Haze, Old film, Your cover
Folio	Our pick, Photocopy, Newspaper, Coloured
Now Playing	Your cover, Calm, Plain
Texts	Your cover, Plain, Colour (this is the chat wallpaper)
Tapestry	Our pick, Dark, Paper, Colour
Departure	Our pick, Your cover, City night, Road, Sky, Dusk, Rain on glass, City lights, Clouds (the view out of the window)
Textmode	Cycle, Your cover, World
Behind	Cycle, Photo, Colour, Two-tone, World
Ransom	Desk, Old tape, Paper, Your cover
Diary	Our pick, Notebook, Sketchbook, Cover colours, Brown paper, Coloured, Dark card, Ruled pad, Punched graph, Crumpled notebook, Crinkled (stop-motion)

Each style's own article explains its backgrounds in more detail. Start at Which lyric video styles can I choose?

Good to know

• Backgrounds are remembered per style. Changing it in Marker doesn't change Widescreen.
• Your colour choice still applies. Many backgrounds take on the colours you picked.
• No cover art? 'Your cover' uses the stand-in cover we made for you. See I don’t have cover art yet. What happens if I skip it?
• With a mouse, hover over a background to see a one-line description.
• It's free and instant.

If something goes wrong

• There's no Background row. The style you're on has only one background.

Hidden extras

• When a background is on Our pick, Shuffle can change it for you in some styles, such as Marker. Pick a background yourself and Shuffle leaves it alone.