Safe zone checker for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Play your own vertical video under the TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts interface areas, see the space that stays clear on all three, and download overlay PNGs for your editor.
Your video or image plays on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
Your video or image
MP4, MOV or WebM (whatever this browser can play), PNG, JPG or WebP. Or drop it here.
- Shaded: covered by the app (keep text and faces out)
- Thick line: safe on all selected platforms
- Solid line: TikTok safe area
- Dashed line: Instagram Reels safe area
- Dotted line: YouTube Shorts safe area
Transparent PNGs for the top track in Premiere, Resolve, Final Cut or CapCut. Turn the layer off before you export.
Preview
Margins and sources
All three figures come from the platforms' own ad safe-zone guides (checked 2026-10-17). They are guides for ads; the interface over organic posts is similar but can differ by app version, device, language and account. Leave extra room. Margins are in pixels on a 1080×1920 frame (percent of the frame height for top and bottom, of the width for left and right).
| Platform | Top | Bottom | Left | Right | Other covered areas | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 240 px (12.5%) | 660 px (34.4%) | 120 px (11.1%) | 120 px (11.1%) | Right-side buttons: 180×420 px at x 780, y 840 | TikTok Business Help Center: TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads, Safe Zone section (file "In-Feed-Standard Version LTR.zip") Platform’s own guide. TikTok In-Feed ads, standard (left-to-right) safe-zone file. Measured from the transparent area of TikTok's own safe-zone PNG (2880x5120, labeled on a 720x1280 grid: 160 top, 440 bottom, 80 each side, plus a 120-wide right-side column from 560 down). Scaled x1.5 to 1080x1920. TikTok says the safe zone also depends on the ad caption length and add-ons such as anchors; this is the standard In-Feed file. | |
| Instagram Reels | 269 px (14.0%) | 672 px (35.0%) | 65 px (6.0%) | 65 px (6.0%) | None | Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Reels video ad specs Platform’s own guide. Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video ads. Meta gives percentages: at least 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% on each side. Converted to 1080x1920 and rounded up to whole pixels (268.8 to 269, 672, 64.8 to 65). Ad guidance. Reels ads with disclaimers should keep the bottom 40% clear (Meta Business Help Center). | |
| YouTube Shorts | 288 px (15.0%) | 672 px (35.0%) | 48 px (4.4%) | 192 px (17.8%) | None | Google Ads Help: About video ad specs, section "Universal safe zones for video ads on YouTube" (vertical, 1080x1920) Platform’s own guide. Google's universal safe zone for vertical (9:16) video ads on YouTube. Read from Google's vertical safe-zone diagram (288, 672, 48 and 192 px on 1080x1920) and confirmed by measuring the transparent area of Google's downloadable vertical overlay PNG. Google's page covers vertical video ads across YouTube and does not name Shorts specifically; the organic Shorts interface can differ. |
How to check your video
- Click Choose video or image, or drag a file onto the page. A full video is best because you can watch it play; a single frame (PNG, JPG or WebP) also works.
- Turn on the apps you post to: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts.
- Turn on Show combined safe area to outline the part of the frame that stays clear on every app you selected.
- Play the video from start to finish and watch your captions, on-screen text, faces and logos. Anything under a shaded box will sit behind that app's buttons, caption or username.
- To keep the guide visible while you edit, click Download overlay PNG (1080×1920) or Download overlay PNG (2160×3840).
The Margins and sources table under the preview lists the margins used for each app, where each figure comes from and the date it was last checked. To try caption styles inside the same boxes, use the caption style previewer.
Use the overlay in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or CapCut
The PNGs are transparent and 9:16. Put one on the top video track above your edit and stretch it to the length of the sequence. Use the 1080×1920 file on a 1080×1920 timeline and the 2160×3840 file on a 4K vertical timeline. Edit with the guide on, then turn that track off or delete the PNG before you export. If you forget, the boxes end up in your video.
What this tool fixes
Many safe-zone checkers cover one app per page. If you post the same cut to TikTok, Reels and Shorts, you check it three times and still have to work out which layout is tightest. Here you switch on all three, and the combined area shows the space you can trust on each of them.
Many checkers also take a single still image. Captions move and lower thirds animate in, so a face that is clear at second two can drift under the like button by second nine. Playing the whole clip under the overlay catches that.
Editors want this inside their software too. In an April 2025 Adobe Community idea thread, After Effects users asked for safe-zone guides for current social apps. The built-in guides are broadcast title-safe and action-safe margins, which don't match a phone app's buttons. The downloadable PNG works today in any editor that can put a transparent image on a track.
Video that isn't 9:16
If your file is landscape, square or 4:5, the tool warns you and shows it fitted the way an app fills a 9:16 phone screen, so you can see what gets cropped or letterboxed. For the most reliable check, export your edit at 9:16 first. To plan that crop in your editor, with the numbers to type in, use the vertical reframe guide.
Limits
- The shaded areas are approximate. They are our drawing of each app's interface on the date shown in the table. Apps change their layouts, and the covered area varies with phone model, language, caption length, account type and whether the post is an ad.
- Where an app publishes its own guidance, the table links to it. Where only third-party measurements exist, the table labels them "approximate, third-party measurement".
- Treat the edge of the safe area as a limit and keep important text a little further in.
- The video plays in your browser, so it has to be a format your browser can play. Some HEVC or ProRes files won't play in every browser. If yours doesn't, export a frame as PNG or JPG and check that.
- The covered areas are drawn as plain labeled boxes. We don't copy app icons or logos, so the overlay shows where the interface sits, not exactly what it looks like.
Your files stay on your device
Your browser opens the video or image from your own disk and plays it in the page. Nothing is uploaded, and the overlay PNGs are drawn on your computer. Once the page has loaded, the tool keeps working with your connection switched off.
Questions
Does one safe zone template work for TikTok, Reels and Shorts?
Only if it is built from the tightest margins of all three. Each app puts its buttons, caption and progress bar in different places, so text that is clear on TikTok can be covered on Reels or Shorts. Turn on all three apps and Show combined safe area to get that shared area. The overlay PNG you download follows the same selection.
Will the overlay show up in my exported video?
Not from this page. The tool draws the guide over the preview and never changes your video. In your editor the PNG is a normal image layer, so it will be exported if its track is still on. Hide or delete it before you export.
What size should a TikTok, Reels or Shorts video be?
Vertical 9:16 is the shape that fills a phone screen in all three apps. TikTok's ad specs recommend 9:16, and Google's guidance for Shorts ads says 9:16 suits Shorts best. 1080×1920 is 1080p turned upright. YouTube's help says Shorts can be square or vertical, and Instagram's help center, as indexed in October 2026, lists Reels from 1.91:1 to 9:16, but anything wider than 9:16 won't fill the screen. The overlays come in 1080×1920 and 2160×3840 and scale to any other 9:16 size.
How accurate are these safe zones?
They are a guide with a date on it. Each figure in the Margins and sources table shows where it came from and when it was last checked. The real covered area shifts with app updates, phone models and post types, so leave some room inside the lines.
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is played by your browser from your own device. The page sends nothing while you use it, and it works offline once loaded.
Why won't my video play in the checker?
The browser can't decode that file's codec. This happens with some HEVC and ProRes exports. Export a still frame as PNG or JPG and check that, or export a test copy as H.264 MP4.
Page updated .