TikTok, Reels and Shorts safe zone checker
See what the app interface hides on your 9:16 video, plus a PNG template.
- Instant
- Free
- Private (processed locally)
- No sign-up
Check the safe zone of your TikTok, Reels and Shorts videos
The safe zone is the part of a vertical 9:16 video that stays visible once it is posted. All around it, the app lays its interface on top: tabs and search at the top, username, caption and sound at the bottom, and a column of like, comment and share buttons on the right. A caption placed too low or a price stuck to the right edge disappears behind these elements, and you often only notice after posting.
This tool lays the covered areas of TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Stories, or the area common to all four, over your image or video. You see at once what will be hidden, you can scrub through a video with the slider, and you can download a transparent 1080 × 1920 PNG template for CapCut, Premiere Pro or Canva. Everything happens in your browser: no file is uploaded.
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Choose the platform
Click TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Stories, or “All (common area)” for a video you post everywhere. The “Safe zone” panel instantly shows the margins in pixels and percent.
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Add your image or video
Click “Choose an image or video”, drop a file onto the phone or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V. For a video, use the “Play” button and the slider to check every moment that has text on screen.
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Read the overlay
Purple zones are covered by the interface and the dashed frame marks the safe zone. Hover or tap the preview to see what covers a specific spot, and switch from “Zones only” to “Simplified UI mock” to see generic buttons and bars.
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Adjust the framing
If your media is not 9:16, compare “Fill (crop)” and “Fit (black bars)”: the tool tells you how much is cropped or how large the bars are, and warns you when the image has to be enlarged.
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Download
Get the “Transparent template (PNG 1080 × 1920)” for your editing app, or the “Preview with overlay (PNG)” to show the problem to a client or an editor.
How the safe zone checker works
Each overlay is defined on a 1080 × 1920 px reference screen, the standard size of a vertical 9:16 video, then scaled down to the preview. Your media is placed in this frame according to the mode you pick: in fill mode it covers the whole screen and its edges overflow; in fit mode it stays whole with black bars. The zones are then drawn on top:
- Top bar: tabs and search, or the progress bar and profile on Stories.
- Bottom of the screen: username, caption and sound, or title, channel and Subscribe button on YouTube, or the reply bar on Stories.
- Buttons column: like, comment, save and share, on the right on TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
- Edge margins, in lighter purple: on a screen taller than 9:16, the video can be cropped at the sides.
- Safe zone: the dashed frame, with the largest fully safe rectangle given in pixels in the panel.
The “All (common area)” mode computes the intersection of the four safe zones: whatever stays inside is visible on every platform. The hover check works in this mode too and lists the platforms where a spot may be hidden.
Safe zone dimensions at 1080 × 1920
| Platform | Top | Bottom | Sides | Buttons on the right | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 240 px (12.5%) | 660 px (34.4%) | 120 px (11.1%) | 300 px from the right edge, below 840 px | In-Feed safe zone file, TikTok Ads Help Center |
| Instagram Reels | 269 px (14%) | 672 px (35%) | 65 px (6%) | About 21% of the width over the bottom 40% | Meta Ads Guide |
| YouTube Shorts | 288 px (15%) | 672 px (35%) | 48 px left, 192 px right | Included in the right 192 px | Google Ads Help, vertical video ads |
| Instagram Stories | 269 px (14%) | 384 px (20%) | 65 px (6%) | None | Common creator template (35% at the bottom for ads) |
| Common to all four | 288 px | 672 px | 120 px left, 192 px right | Nothing right of 780 px below 840 px | Intersection: 660 × 960 px safe rectangle |
Values rounded to the pixel for a 1080 × 1920 px screen, checked in October 2026. They come from ad guidelines or common templates and remain approximations: the real interface varies with the phone, the language and the app version.
Why check the safe zone before posting
- Burned-in subtitles: place them high enough that they do not slide under the post caption and sound name.
- Hooks and titles: keep the text of the first seconds away from the top bar and the buttons column.
- One video for every platform: with the common area, the same cut works on TikTok, Reels and Shorts without edits.
- Editing templates: one transparent PNG per platform, used as a guide layer in CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Canva.
- Client approval: the PNG preview shows in one image what will be hidden, handy for ads and UGC content.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Subtitles too low: on TikTok and Reels, roughly the bottom third is taken by the username, caption and sound; move them up inside the dashed frame.
- Text pushed to the right: the buttons column hides prices, handles and arrows; align text left or center it in the safe zone.
- Template misaligned in the editor: the project is not 9:16. Set it to 1080 × 1920 (or 720 × 1280, 2160 × 3840) and stretch the PNG to the full frame: the proportions stay correct.
- Template visible in the posted video: the layer was still on when exporting; hide or delete it before you export.
- Horizontal video cropped: at 16:9, filling the screen crops about 68% of the width; reframe the subject yourself or use fit with black bars.
Privacy: your images and videos are read and drawn by your browser, nothing is sent to or stored on a server; only your display settings are remembered on this device. Limits: the zones follow the ad guidelines published by TikTok, Meta and Google and common creator templates; they are approximations that change with phones, languages, caption length and app updates. Video playback depends on the formats your browser supports. TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are trademarks of their respective owners; this independent tool is unofficial and not affiliated with these platforms.
Frequently asked questions
What is the TikTok safe zone for 1080 × 1920 videos?
According to the safe zone file TikTok publishes for In-Feed ads, you should leave about 240 px at the top, 660 px at the bottom and 120 px on each side, plus, from 840 px down, a 300 px column along the right edge for the buttons. That leaves a safe rectangle of about 660 × 1020 px, starting 120 px from the left edge and 240 px from the top. These values are meant for ads, which add a call-to-action button, so they are slightly conservative for a regular post.
What is the Instagram Reels safe zone?
Meta’s ads guide recommends keeping roughly 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side clear, which is about 269 px, 672 px and 65 px on a 1080 × 1920 video. The tool also adds the like, comment and share buttons in the lower-right corner, estimated from Meta’s Reels diagram at roughly a fifth of the width over the bottom 40%. Meta currently recommends 1440 × 2560 px for these ads: the ratio is still 9:16, so the percentages apply unchanged.
What is the YouTube Shorts safe zone?
Google Ads’ reference image for vertical video ads on YouTube shows 288 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom, 48 px on the left and 192 px on the right of a 1080 × 1920 screen, leaving a safe rectangle of 840 × 960 px. The right margin covers the buttons column, the bottom one the title, channel name and Subscribe button. Since 15 October 2024, square or vertical uploads of up to three minutes are treated as Shorts.
Can one video be safe for TikTok, Reels and Shorts at the same time?
Yes: choose “All (common area)” to display the intersection of the four overlays. With the values used here, text stays visible everywhere if it fits in a rectangle of about 660 × 960 px starting 120 px from the left edge and 288 px from the top. In practice, center your titles and captions and keep them away from the bottom and the right edge.
How do I use a safe zone template in CapCut, Premiere Pro or Canva?
Download the “Transparent template (PNG 1080 × 1920)”, import it into your 9:16 project and place it on a track or layer above the video, stretched to fill the frame. Then keep your text outside the purple zones, using the dashed frame as a guide. Hide or delete the template before exporting, otherwise it will show up in the published video.
Why is my text still covered when it is inside the safe zone?
The interface changes with the phone, the language, the caption length and the app version: a long or translated caption takes more lines, and ads add a call-to-action button. The zones in this tool are therefore conservative approximations, not a pixel-perfect guarantee. Before posting, check the preview in the app or upload a private test.