YouTube Shorts Safe Zone (Plus TikTok and Reels): A Pixel Template

By the Clipzi team · Updated October 4, 2026

The YouTube Shorts safe zone, and its TikTok and Reels equivalents, is the part of a 1080x1920 frame that the app's buttons, username, caption and progress bar do not cover. Put your captions, faces, logo or call to action outside it and someone scrolling will never see them.

Below you get the margins in pixels for each platform, a single template that works on all three, and where to place each element. One honest warning first: these apps change their interface often, and the exact overlay depends on the phone, the app version and how long your post caption is. Treat every number here as a margin with room to spare, not a pixel-perfect spec.

The frame: 1080x1920, 9:16

All three platforms play vertical video at 9:16, and 1080x1920 is the standard canvas. TikTok accepts vertical ads from 540x960, but you want 1080x1920 for organic posts too: anything smaller gets upscaled and looks soft next to native uploads.

If your source is horizontal, the safe zone decision starts at the reframe. Where you put the speaker's face in the crop decides whether the right-side buttons sit on their cheek. Our guide to turning horizontal video into vertical covers layouts, and export settings for Reels and TikTok covers bitrate and codec.

What each platform covers

The layout is similar everywhere: a strip at the top (tabs, search, camera or the "Sponsored" label on ads), a column of buttons on the right (like, comment, share, remix, audio), and a heavy block at the bottom (username, post caption, audio name, progress bar, and on ads a CTA button). The bottom is always the largest problem, around a third of the frame.

These are the margins most guides and safe zone checkers use on a 1080x1920 frame. They come from each platform's ad guidance, which is stricter than organic posts, so they work as a safe upper bound.

TikTok: about 240 px top, 660 px bottom, 120 px on each side. The right action column is wider in practice: some ad overlays reserve around 240 px on the right. TikTok says the safe zone depends on ad caption length and add-ons, and publishes downloadable overlay files per placement.
Instagram and Facebook Reels: Meta's official guidance is to leave 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text and logos. On 1080x1920 that is about 269 px, 672 px and 65 px.
YouTube Shorts: about 288 px top, 672 px bottom, 48 px left and 192 px right. Google's ad help shows a 1080x1920 reference image with a red safe area but does not list the numbers in text, so these values are the commonly cited reading of it.

One YouTube Shorts safe zone template that also works for TikTok and Reels

If you post the same file to all three apps (most people do), take the strictest value on each edge. Rounded up:

Top: 290 px. Bottom: 680 px. Left: 120 px. Right: 200 px.

That leaves a box from x 120 to x 880 and from y 290 to y 1240, about 760x950 px. Everything that must be read or recognized goes inside it. Backgrounds, cutaways and decoration can fill the full 1080x1920.

To use it, make a 1080x1920 PNG with transparent center and semi-opaque bands on those four edges, drop it on the top track of your timeline as a guide layer, and switch it off before export. Some sites claim a universal 900x1400 centered box; check it against the numbers above and you will see it leaves captions inside the bottom overlay. Respect the 680 px at the bottom.

Where to put captions, faces, logos and CTAs

Knowing the box is half the job. Each element has a better spot inside it.

Captions: keep the baseline of the last line above y 1240. A good default is centered horizontally with the caption block between y 950 and y 1240, just above the platform's text. Two short lines beat one long line that runs into the right-side buttons. If you use word-by-word animated captions, test the widest frame of the animation, not the resting one.
Faces: put the eyes around y 600 to y 800, roughly the upper third of the safe box. That keeps foreheads clear of the top bar and chins clear of the captions. Keep the face centered or slightly left: the right column of buttons is where cheeks and hands get covered.
Logo: small, top left inside the box (around x 120 to x 320, y 290 to y 400). Top right collides with Shorts and TikTok icons on some phones. A logo in the bottom corners is almost always hidden.
CTA text: center it, inside the box, either above the captions or on its own end card. Never on the right edge. Keep it to a few words that still read at phone size.
Hook text in the first second: just under y 290, centered. It is the first thing people read, so it should not hide behind the top tabs.

Things that shrink the safe zone

The pixel margins above are the starting point. Several things eat into them:

Long post captions. On every platform the description grows upward when it runs to several lines. Keep the first line short or the overlay climbs into your captions.
Ads. Paid placements add a CTA button, a "Sponsored" label and sometimes a product card. If you plan to boost a clip, design to the ad margins from the start.
Phone shape. Phones taller than 9:16 can crop or letterbox the frame differently, which is why Meta adds side margins.
Interface updates. Platforms move buttons without notice. Recheck your template against a test post every few months.
Language direction. TikTok ships separate overlay files for right-to-left languages like Arabic, since the layout mirrors.

How to check before you post

1
Export a still
Grab the busiest frame of the clip (captions at their widest, logo and CTA visible) as a 1080x1920 PNG.
2
Overlay the guide
Lay your template on top in any editor, or use a free safe zone checker that previews TikTok, Reels and Shorts UI on your frame.
3
Post a private test
Upload as private or to a test account and look at it on an actual phone. This catches what a template misses, like a long description.
4
Fix and save the template
Move what is covered, then save your caption and logo positions as a preset so the next clip starts right.

Setting safe positions in Clipzi

In Clipzi you reframe the clip to 9:16 with a layout (fullscreen, centered crop, split screen, three-person, spotlight) and keyframes to keep the speaker where you want them, which is how you keep faces away from the right-side buttons. Animated captions, the logo and the CTA text are overlays you drag and resize on the vertical frame, so you place them inside the box from this guide before rendering.

Vertical exports render from your original file at 1080x1920, around 12 Mbps, so the text you placed carefully stays sharp after the app recompresses it. You can try it on the Free plan with 2 long videos, no credit card. If you mostly need captions placed well, the AI caption generator page shows the caption styles.

Make vertical clips that stay readable on every app

Reframe to 9:16, place captions, logo and CTA, and export 1080x1920 from your original file. Free plan, no credit card.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the safe zone for YouTube Shorts?+

On a 1080x1920 frame, keep key elements about 288 px from the top, 672 px from the bottom, 48 px from the left and 192 px from the right, where the action buttons sit.

What is the TikTok safe zone in pixels?+

A common working value is 240 px top, 660 px bottom and 120 px per side on 1080x1920. Give the right side more room for the button column. TikTok's own size varies with caption length.

Is there one safe zone for TikTok, Reels and Shorts?+

Use the strictest edge from each: 290 px top, 680 px bottom, 120 px left, 200 px right. That leaves roughly 760x950 px in the middle for text, faces and CTAs.

Where should I put captions on a vertical video?+

Centered, with the last line ending above about y 1240 on a 1080x1920 frame. That is just above the username and description block on all three apps.

Do safe zones change?+

Yes. Platforms update their interface, and long captions, ads and phone shape change what is covered. Treat the numbers as margins and test on a phone.