Guide
Reels safe zones
The short answer: keep text and key visuals inside x 60 to 940 and y 250 to 1440. The rest of this page explains why, and covers every other format.
Updated
On a 1080 x 1920 Instagram Reel, keep text and key visuals inside the box from x 60 to 940 and y 250 to 1440. The top 250 pixels, the bottom 480 pixels and the right 140 pixels get covered by the app: status bar and tabs at the top, your caption, username and the sound at the bottom, and the like, comment and share buttons on the right.
The same box works for TikTok and YouTube Shorts, because they place their interface in the same areas. Backgrounds still run full-bleed; only the things people must read or see stay inside.
The numbers for 9:16
| Zone | Pixels on 1080 x 1920 | What covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Top | y 0 to 250 | Status bar, tabs, the app's title, the Stories progress bar |
| Bottom | y 1440 to 1920 | Your caption, username, sound or title, the comment bar |
| Right | x 940 to 1080, from y 250 to 1440 | Like, comment, share and remix buttons |
| Left margin | x 0 to 60 | Nothing, but text that touches the edge feels cramped |
| Safe box | x 60 to 940, y 250 to 1440 | Nothing: put everything that matters here |
Two refinements help in practice:
- Talking-head captions sit in the lower part of the safe box, about y 1000 to 1440, below a face and above the app's caption.
- Titles and keyword pops go in the upper third, about y 250 to 700, where they do not cover a face.
The bottom zone is visible for a moment before the app's own caption fades in, so full-bleed footage there is fine. A word is not: it gets covered as soon as the interface appears.
Other formats
| Format | Size | Safe area |
|---|---|---|
| Feed post 4:5 | 1080 x 1350 | 60 px margins: x 60 to 1020, y 60 to 1290 |
| Square 1:1 | 1080 x 1080 | 60 px margins: x 60 to 1020, y 60 to 1020 |
| Landscape 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 | 96 px margins: x 96 to 1824, y 96 to 984 |
| Thumbnail | 1280 x 720 | 64 px margins, and keep the bottom-right corner (x 1040 to 1280, y 620 to 720) free for the length badge |
| Reel cover in the grid | 1080 x 1920 | Words and focal point inside the centered 1080 x 1350: y 285 to 1635 |
On 16:9 video, a lower third sits with its bottom edge at y 960 at most, and subtitles end at y 1000 at most, centered, in two lines.
Type sizes that survive a phone
The safe box solves covering. Size solves reading. On a canvas 1080 pixels wide:
| Use | Minimum size |
|---|---|
| Headlines | 72 px |
| Body text and captions | 44 px |
| Short labels and handles | 28 px |
| Anything people must read in under a second | 96 px |
For other canvas widths, scale by the width: a 1920-wide canvas needs about 1.78 times these sizes.
How to use the safe zone when you make the video
In a prompt. Put the box in the STYLE part of your prompt, in plain numbers: "All text inside x 60 to 940, y 250 to 1440." Claude Code can then position and size every element to fit, and shrink long words that would overflow. Vague instructions such as "keep it centered" leave room for a headline that runs into the like button.
In a check. HyperFrames can flag elements in the bottom band automatically:
npx hyperframes check --caption-zone "x0=0;y0=0.75;x1=1;y1=1;severity=error"
The values are fractions of the frame, so y0=0.75 means the bottom quarter. Elements that belong there on purpose, such as a progress bar along the bottom edge, can be marked as allowed.
By eye. Take snapshots at the moments text appears and look at them on a phone-sized screen before you render the final version. Text that is technically inside the box can still be too small or too close to a face.
Common mistakes
- Centering everything vertically on 1920 pixels. The visual center of a Reel sits higher than the middle of the canvas, because the bottom 480 pixels are taken.
- Putting the call to action at the very bottom ("Link in bio" at y 1800). It ends up under the caption.
- Right-aligned text that runs into the button column.
- Using the same layout for the Reel and its cover without checking the grid crop.
Built in, if you want it
The vertical templates in Motion Cheat Code keep their text inside this safe box, and the pack's Claude Code skill knows these numbers, so prompts that name a skin get them automatically. The free starter kit's Counter Card template is a quick way to see the box in a real render.
Questions
Is the safe zone the same on TikTok and YouTube Shorts?
Close enough to use one safe box. All three apps put buttons on the right and the caption, username and sound or title at the bottom, so x 60 to 940 and y 250 to 1440 keeps text clear on each. Apps change their layouts now and then, so check a test upload when it matters.
Should the background stay inside the safe zone?
No. Backgrounds, footage and color fields should run edge to edge, or the video looks framed. Only text, faces, products, prices and anything people must read or see go inside the safe box.
What part of a Reel shows in the profile grid?
The grid shows a centered crop of the cover, not the whole 1080 x 1920 frame. Keep the cover's words and focal point inside the middle 1080 x 1350, which is y 285 to 1635.