There are several types of overlays in the computer world. One type is a video overlay, a technique to display video on a computer monitor without having to go through the computer processor. This type of overlay is commonly used by TV tuner cards and early 3D graphics cards.

Another type of overlay is a hardware overlay, which is also a type of video overlay. These overlays use dedicated memory in the video card to render an image to a computer monitor. This process helps to improve the video quality for a computer game, a DVD or a TV tuner card. Most video cards since 1998 support hardware overlay.

A third type of overlay is an overlay network, a computer network on top of another network. This type of overlay is used with private networks to improve routing. It is also used on the Internet for routing data to a destination that are not specified by an IP address. Normally, this type of routing is not possible without an overlay network.

Network terms, Video terms

  • Network and network card help and support.
  • Video card help and support.