# TikTok, Reels and Shorts safe zone checker

Pick an image or a video, choose the platform, and see which parts of your 9:16 frame the app's buttons, tabs and caption are likely to cover. Your file never leaves your browser.

## Approximate, and why

Platforms do not publish official overlay sizes for organic posts, and the interface varies by device and app version. The boxes on this page come from the closest thing each platform does publish: its guidance for vertical video ads, which run in the same feed. Treat the shaded areas as the parts most likely to be covered, not as a pixel rule.

## Safe zones on a 1080×1920 frame

| Platform | Top | Bottom | Left | Right | Clear box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 240 px | 660 px | 120 px | 120 px, 300 px from 840 px down | 660×1020 px |
| Instagram Reels | 269 px (14%) | 672 px (35%) | 65 px (6%) | 65 px (6%) | 950×979 px |
| YouTube Shorts | 288 px | 672 px | 48 px | 192 px | 840×960 px |

## What to keep inside the clear box

Put on-screen text, captions you burn in, faces, logos and calls to action inside the clear box. Backgrounds and motion can fill the whole frame: the buttons and caption only cover what is underneath them. If you post the same video to all three apps, keep key elements inside the area that is clear on every platform: roughly 120 px from the left, 300 px from the right, 288 px from the top and 672 px from the bottom.

## Post it everywhere at once

With PostBoost you can schedule one vertical video to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts together, and check each post before it goes out.

## How to use

1. Pick an image or a video from your device. For a video, the checker uses its first frame. Nothing is uploaded.
2. Choose TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.
3. Look at the shaded areas: the app's tabs, buttons and caption usually cover them, so keep text and faces in the clear box.
4. Turn the overlay off to see the frame alone, and download the 1080×1920 PNG to share with your editor.

## FAQ

### What is a safe zone on TikTok, Reels and Shorts?

It is the part of a 9:16 vertical video that the app's own interface does not cover. The tabs at the top, the like, comment and share buttons on the right, and the caption and sound name at the bottom sit on top of your video, so text or faces under them are hard to see.

### How big is the TikTok safe zone?

On a 1080×1920 frame, TikTok's In-Feed ad safe-zone file keeps about 240 px clear at the top, 660 px at the bottom and 120 px on each side, with the action buttons taking 300 px on the right from 840 px down. That leaves a clear box of about 660×1020 px.

### How big is the Instagram Reels safe zone?

Meta's ads guide asks you to leave at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text and logos. On 1080×1920 that is 269 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom and 65 px on each side.

### How big is the YouTube Shorts safe zone?

Google's safe-zone image for vertical video ads on YouTube, which run in Shorts, keeps 288 px clear at the top, 672 px at the bottom, 48 px on the left and 192 px on the right of a 1080×1920 frame.

### Are these sizes official?

They are approximate. Platforms do not publish official overlay sizes for organic posts, and the interface varies by device and app version. The numbers come from each platform's ad guidance, which is the closest published reference, so treat the shaded areas as a guide, not a pixel rule.

### Can I check a video, not just an image?

Yes. Pick a video file and the checker draws its first frame on the 1080×1920 canvas in your browser. The video is never uploaded.

### Can I get the safe zones from an API?

Yes. The PostBoost Free Tools API and MCP server return the same boxes for a platform, scaled to any frame size you give, so an editing script or an AI agent can place text inside the safe area.

## Related

- [Social media video sizes and lengths cheat sheet](https://postboost.co/tools/social-media-video-specs): Video ratio, resolution, length, file size and formats for Reels, TikTok, Shorts, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest and more, each with its source.
- [Instagram carousel splitter](https://postboost.co/tools/instagram-carousel-splitter): Split a wide photo or panorama into 2 to 10 seamless 1:1 or 4:5 Instagram carousel slides. Runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
- [Social media image sizes, with a free resizer](https://postboost.co/tools/social-media-image-sizes): Image sizes for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and more, each with its source. Crop and resize your image in the browser.
- [Post editor](https://postboost.co/features/editor): Write once, adjust per account, preview it the way each network shows it and pick the format: Reel, Story, thread, offer, board or privacy.
- [TikTok Caption Character Limit 2026: 4,000 vs 2,200](https://postboost.co/learn/tiktok-caption-character-limit): TikTok's app takes captions of up to 4,000 characters, but scheduling tools get 2,200 through TikTok's API. What counts, emoji math and how to write one.

Last verified: 2026-10-19

## Sources

- [TikTok Ads Help: video ads specifications and safe zone files (template measured 2026-10-19)](https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/video-ads-specifications)
- [Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Reels video ads (retrieved 2026-10-17)](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/video/instagram-reels)
- [Google Ads Help: about video ad specs and safe zones (retrieved 2026-10-17)](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13547298)
- [socialync.io: YouTube Shorts safe zone values read from Google's image (2026-10-11)](https://www.socialync.io/tools/safe-zones/youtube-shorts)

Canonical: https://postboost.co/tools/safe-zone-checker