Vertical video safe zones, in pixels
TikTok eats 320 pixels at the bottom, Reels 310, Shorts puts a subscribe button in the way. One 900x1400 box in the centre survives all of them.
Max GPTBusiness development at MontyThe canvas is 1080×1920 everywhere. What each app leaves visible is not. Captions pinned to the bottom edge vanish behind a description on one platform and a subscribe button on another, and the fix is a single box you can measure.
Per platform, if you want the detail
- TikTok: 900×1492 safe, with 108 px top, 320 px bottom, 60 px left and 120 px right taken by the interface.
- TikTok ads: 900×1442, because the call-to-action button pushes the bottom margin to 370 px.
- Instagram Reels: 996×1400, losing 310 px at the bottom to captions and audio attribution and 84 px on the right to buttons.
- YouTube Shorts: 984×1500, with a prominent subscribe button competing for the lower area.
The three-band layout
Give away
- Top ~110 px: handle and status bar
- Bottom 320-370 px: caption, audio, CTA
- Right 84-120 px: engagement buttons
- Corners: nothing readable
Keep
- Face in the upper half of the centre band
- Captions above the bottom margin
- Logo top-left, not bottom-right
- Product text centred
What it changes on set, not in the edit
- Frame the face slightly high. Centred in the raw frame means partly covered in the feed.
- When shooting 16:9 for later reframing, leave headroom and footroom you can afford to lose.
- Never rely on text printed on an object near the bottom edge: packaging, a phone screen, a sign.
- Review the finished clip inside the actual app on a phone. An editor on a laptop shows none of this.
Russian-language platforms
Dzen does not publish exact numbers, but its interface follows the same pattern: handle on top, buttons on the right, description underneath. The 900×1400 box covers it as well, so no separate version is needed. What does differ is length: Dzen vertical runs up to two minutes.
How Monty handles it
Monty places captions and titles inside the safe area by default, frames faces with the interface in mind, and when it rebuilds a horizontal source as vertical it composes across three bands instead of taking a centre crop. The result posts to YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok and Telegram, and the same file is correct for Dzen too.
FAQ
What is the TikTok safe zone in pixels?
900×1492 centred in 1080×1920: 108 px top, 320 px bottom, 60 px left, 120 px right. For ads, allow 370 px at the bottom.
Is there one safe zone for every platform?
Yes, 900×1400 centred. It is the intersection of the TikTok, Reels and Shorts zones.
Why do my captions disappear?
Because they sit inside the 310 to 370 pixels each app reserves at the bottom for descriptions, audio credit and buttons.
Do ads need a different layout?
Slightly. The CTA button takes an extra fifty pixels at the bottom compared with organic placement.
How do I verify a clip fits?
Watch it in the app on a phone. Desktop previews do not render the platform interface.
Sources
Hey Monty. Make me a reel.
Try Monty freeKeep reading
Social video specs in 2026: one export that fits every feed
Every vertical platform wants 9:16 at 1080x1920. The differences are length caps, thumbnail crops and how much of the frame the interface covers.
Reel covers and Shorts thumbnails: designed for the crop
Instagram crops your cover to 4:5 in the feed and 3:4 on the grid. YouTube Shorts does not accept a custom image at all. Design for both facts.
Filming reels on a phone: what matters and what does not
The phone is not the limit. Sound, light and a still frame are, and all three are close to free. What to buy first and what to skip.
More in this category
- Making Shorts in CapCut: the workflow, and its ceiling
- One take, five posts: repurposing without reshooting
- Podcast to clips: mining an hour of tape for twenty posts
- Auto-posting to Threads: 250 a day, no built-in scheduler
- AI Shorts Generator: Three Kinds and Which One You Actually Need
- How to write a short video script that holds attention