TikTok safe zone checker
Drop a frame from your video in and see exactly what TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts cover with buttons, captions and rails. Then download a transparent 1080 x 1920 safe zone template and line everything up in your editor. Nothing leaves your browser.
Drag an image in, or pick one below.
What the TikTok interface covers
- Top 130 px Following and For You tabs, search
- Bottom 500 px Handle, caption and music bar
- Left 44 px Screen edge
- Right 140 px Action rail: profile, like, comment, share
Everything runs in your browser. The frame you drop in is drawn on this page, never sent to a server, and the templates are generated on your device. Zone sizes are approximate and move with the phone. Last verified: July 2026.
Need help with short form content? Book a free call →
Safe zone templates you can download
Four transparent PNGs, every one of them a full 1080 x 1920: a TikTok safe zone template, an Instagram Reels one, a YouTube Shorts one, and a combined template that takes the worst case on every edge so a single design holds up on all three. The download buttons are in the tool above.
They are built on your device at the moment you press the button, from the same numbers you can see in the legend, so the file you get and the overlay you just looked at cannot disagree. No email, no signup, no watermark.
How to use the safe zone templates
- Drop a still from the video you are working on into the frame above, or leave the grid in place.
- Pick the platform you are posting to. The dark bands are what the app draws on top of your video.
- Move any text, logo or lower third until it sits inside the yellow rectangle.
- Download the transparent PNG, drop it on the top layer of your timeline, line your captions up against it, then hide that layer before you export.
Why creatives get cropped on TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Your video is not being cropped. The app is drawing its own interface on top of it. The file you upload is the full 1080 x 1920 and every pixel survives, but the bottom of the screen is carrying your handle, your caption and a music bar, and the right hand strip is carrying the like, comment and share buttons. Put a phone number or a logo in either place and most of your audience never reads it.
What catches people out is the part you cannot check from your own phone. Captions expand to three lines when a viewer taps them. A pinned comment, a shop tag, a series label or a call to action button shows on some posts and not others. Shorter screens shift everything up, and a viewer running a large system font pushes the caption block higher again.
Then there is reposting. The same file ends up on TikTok, on Reels, on Shorts, in a profile grid and sometimes embedded on a website, and each of those surfaces covers a different part of the frame. We cut client videos once, against the strictest set of edges, because fixing the same caption four times is how an edit day disappears.
The working rule: faces and action in the middle, every word inside the yellow rectangle, and nothing you want people to act on in the bottom 500 px.
If you are filming rather than editing, the same check saves you the reshoot. Set the frame up once, then film with the script on screen, and you can watch your own eyeline instead of guessing where the caption will end up. On location it matters more, not less: how we film walkthroughs on a phone and keep the frame clean is this same discipline applied to a property tour.
TikTok, Reels and Shorts safe zones side by side
Every inset on this page in one table, so you can see which platform sets the limit on each edge. TikTok takes the most off the bottom, Reels takes the most off the top, and the combined row is what you design to if one file has to go everywhere.
| Platform | Top | Bottom | Left | Right | Safe area | Of the frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 130 px | 500 px | 44 px | 140 px | 896 x 1290 px | 56% |
| Instagram Reels | 220 px | 420 px | 60 px | 144 px | 876 x 1280 px | 54% |
| YouTube Shorts | 120 px | 480 px | 60 px | 144 px | 876 x 1320 px | 56% |
| All three combined | 220 px | 500 px | 60 px | 144 px | 876 x 1200 px | 51% |
Instagram Stories is not in the table because it has not been measured to the same standard. What we can say about the Stories safe zone is further down the page.
TikTok safe zone, video size and caption area
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Video size | 1080 x 1920 px |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 vertical, full screen |
| Frame rate | 30 fps standard, 60 fps supported |
| File type | MP4 or MOV |
| Length | Up to 10 minutes in the app. Some accounts can upload longer on the web. |
| Safe area | 896 x 1290 px (56% of the frame) |
| Covered by the interface | Top 130 px, bottom 500 px, left 44 px, right 140 px |
Instagram Reels safe zone, video size and caption area
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Video size | 1080 x 1920 px |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 vertical, full screen |
| Frame rate | 30 fps standard, 60 fps supported |
| File type | MP4 or MOV |
| Length | Up to 3 minutes |
| Safe area | 876 x 1280 px (54% of the frame) |
| Covered by the interface | Top 220 px, bottom 420 px, left 60 px, right 144 px |
YouTube Shorts safe zone, video size and caption area
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Video size | 1080 x 1920 px |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 vertical, full screen |
| Counts as a Short when | Square or taller, and 3 minutes or under |
| Frame rate | 30 fps standard, 60 fps supported |
| File type | MP4 or MOV |
| Length | Up to 3 minutes |
| Safe area | 876 x 1320 px (56% of the frame) |
| Covered by the interface | Top 120 px, bottom 480 px, left 60 px, right 144 px |
One safe area for all three platforms
Take the worst case on every edge and you get one rectangle that survives on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. It is smaller than any single platform's safe zone, and it means you cut once and post everywhere without moving a caption.
The rectangle tells you where a line of text can sit. It does not tell you how long it has to stay there, and a caption nobody finishes reading is as wasted as one hidden behind a button, so if you are writing on-screen text, check how long it needs to stay up before you lock the edit.
Instagram Stories safe zone
There is no Stories number on this page, and that is on purpose. A Story draws a different set of things over your frame than a Reel does: progress bars, your profile row and the close control at the top, the reply field and the reaction at the bottom, plus any sticker, poll or link tag you add yourself. Those have not been measured against a current app to the standard the other three insets were, and a pixel figure we have not checked is a guess wearing a spec's clothes.
Until it is measured, use the all platforms rectangle above. It is cut against a TikTok caption block and a full action rail, and a Story does not put either of those in your frame, so it is a conservative margin rather than a precise one. You give up a bit more of the frame than you strictly need to, and in exchange the same file works in a Story without another pass in the editor.
The part that catches people out is not the interface anyway. It is the stickers you place yourself. A poll, a question box or a link tag takes a far bigger bite out of the usable area than the app's own furniture does, and it moves every time you drag it. Place those first, then fit the text around them.
For the record, a proper Stories mode here would need two things: insets measured on a normal phone against the app as it ships today, and a stated rule for the interactive stickers. Both are on the list.
How accurate these numbers are
None of the three platforms publishes an official safe area in pixels, so there is no exact figure for anyone to quote. The insets in this tool are a working margin. They follow where the interface sits on a normal phone screen, rounded outward so you get headroom rather than overlap.
They will be wrong for somebody. A short screen, a large system font, a pinned comment, a shop tag or a new button in the next app update all move the edges. Treat the yellow rectangle as a margin of safety rather than a hard boundary, and if something important has to sit near an edge, check it on a real phone before it goes out.
Last verified: July 2026. The numbers live in one file and get re-checked when the apps change.
Frequently asked questions
What is the TikTok safe zone?
The TikTok safe zone is the part of your 1080 x 1920 frame that the app does not cover with its own buttons and text. Leave roughly 130 px clear at the top, 500 px at the bottom, 44 px on the left and 140 px on the right. That gives you a safe rectangle of about 896 x 1290 px, a little over half the frame. Anything a viewer needs to read, a caption, a name, an offer, belongs inside it.
How do I use a TikTok safe zone template?
Download the transparent 1080 x 1920 PNG above and put it on the top layer of your timeline in CapCut, Premiere Pro, Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve or Canva. The dark bands are what the app draws over your video and the yellow rectangle is what stays visible. Move your text and graphics until they sit inside the rectangle, then hide or delete that layer before you export.
What is the Instagram Reels safe zone?
Reels covers more at the top than TikTok and slightly less at the bottom. On a 1080 x 1920 frame keep about 220 px clear at the top, 420 px at the bottom, 60 px on the left and 144 px on the right, which leaves roughly 876 x 1280 px in the middle. The top band holds the status bar and the Reels header, the right band holds the like, comment and share rail.
What is the YouTube Shorts safe zone?
On Shorts, keep about 120 px clear at the top, 480 px at the bottom, 60 px on the left and 144 px on the right of your 1080 x 1920 frame, so the safe rectangle is around 876 x 1320 px. The bottom is the risky part because the channel name, the video title, the sound link and the subscribe button all sit down there, and a long title can run onto a second line.
Is there one safe area that works on TikTok, Reels and Shorts?
Yes. Take the worst case on each edge and you get 220 px clear at the top, 500 px at the bottom, 60 px on the left and 144 px on the right, a safe rectangle of 876 x 1200 px, about half of the frame. Design once inside that and the same file can go to all three platforms without moving a single caption. The all platforms template above is exactly that rectangle.
What is the correct TikTok video size?
1080 x 1920 px, 9:16, MP4 or MOV, 30 or 60 fps. That is the same size Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts want, so one export covers all three. Video size and safe area are two different things: the file is always the full 1080 x 1920, but only the middle 896 x 1290 or so stays clear of TikTok buttons and text.
What is the safe area in Instagram Stories?
Roughly the middle of the frame, and this page deliberately does not put a pixel number on it. Stories covers the top with progress bars and your profile row, and the bottom with the reply field, and we have not measured those against the current app the way the TikTok, Reels and Shorts insets were measured. Until we have, use the all platforms template as a conservative margin: it is cut for a caption block and a full action rail that a Story does not draw, so anything that survives it survives a Story with room to spare.
What is the safe zone on a TikTok carousel?
Treat it as the TikTok video safe zone with a little more taken off the bottom. A photo carousel keeps the same caption block, handle and action rail, then adds the dot indicators that show which slide you are on. We have not measured the indicator strip, so keep text out of the bottom 500 px as you would on a video, and check one slide on a real phone before you publish the set.
Is there a safe zone for TikTok LIVE?
Yes, and it is tighter than the one for a posted video, but we have not measured it so there is no number here. A LIVE screen carries the comment stream up the left side, the gift and share controls on the right, and a join or follow prompt across the bottom, and all of it moves as comments arrive. The working rule: keep anything written in the top third of the frame, and never put a phone number or a URL where the comments run.