Clear today
Everything none of the three currently covers. It is the widest box you could technically use, and it is measured, which means it is only true until the next redesign — of an app you do not control, shipped without an announcement.
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What TikTok, Reels and Shorts cover up
Every vertical platform draws its own interface on top of your video — an action rail down the right, a block of text along the bottom. Drop a frame and see exactly what survives. Your caption is either inside the box or it is not there at all.
Your frame
Export a still from your editor, or screenshot one — then drop it on the frame, choose a file, or just press Ctrl + V.
The image is read by your browser and drawn on this page. It is never sent anywhere, there is no account, and closing the tab is all it takes to remove it.
What to draw on it
Switch to a single platform to see each interface element named. With more than one on, the overlap is the reading: anything hatched is covered on at least one of them.
The measurements
How much each one takes
Percentages of the frame, and the pixel equivalent on the 1080×1920 export all three accept. Nobody publishes these — they are measured from the apps, they are accurate to a few percent, and they move when a platform redesigns.
| Platform | top | right | bottom | left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 7%134 px | 21%227 px | 25%480 px | 0%0 px |
| Instagram Reels | 6%115 px | 19%205 px | 30%576 px | 0%0 px |
| YouTube Shorts | 6%115 px | 19%205 px | 26%499 px | 0%0 px |
| Clear on all threethe worst case of the three, edge by edge | 7%134 px | 21%227 px | 30%576 px | 0%0 px |
| Put text herethe middle third, held off the rail — what we would design to | 33%640 px | 22%238 px | 33%640 px | 5%54 px |
How to read it
Two boxes, and they disagree
Put text here
The middle third, held clear of the right-hand rail. Smaller on purpose: the gap between the two boxes is the margin that absorbs a redesign. It is also where the eye already is when the speaker is centred, so it costs you nothing.
Why this is invisible
Your editor shows a clean frame. The interface only appears in the feed, on a phone that is not yours, after the upload. A hook line covered by a username is a hook that did not happen — and nothing in your workflow tells you it went wrong.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
What is a safe zone in a vertical video?
The part of a 9:16 frame that no platform covers with its own interface. TikTok, Reels and Shorts all draw an action rail down the right side and a block of text along the bottom, on top of your video. Anything you burn into those areas — captions, titles, a call to action — is there in your export and invisible in the feed.
Where do these measurements come from?
From measuring the apps. No platform publishes a safe-area specification, so every safe-zone template, this one included, is somebody's approximation of the interface as it currently looks. Treat the per-platform boxes as accurate to within a few percent, and treat the recommended box as the one to design to, because it has the margin for a redesign built into it.
Why is the recommended area smaller than the measured one?
Because platforms redesign without notice, and the failure is invisible to you. The measured box is what is clear today. The recommended box is the middle third held off the right-hand rail, which stays legible even if a platform grows its bottom block — and it costs you nothing, because that is where the viewer is already looking if the speaker is centred.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The frame is read by your browser and drawn in this page. It is never sent to a server, there is nothing to sign up for, and closing the tab is all it takes to remove it.
Do I need to export a different file for each platform?
No. All three accept 1080x1920 MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, so one export serves all three. What changes per platform is the caption you type, the cover frame you pick and when you post — not the file.
Read next
The rest of the answer
The box above is one rule out of about six. The others are written down, they are free, and none of them asks you for an account either.
Guide
One export, three platforms
The file all three accept, the runtime limits that rarely bind, and the three things that genuinely change per platform.
GuideCaptions that get watched
Most short-form is watched muted, which makes captions the main track. Timing beats styling, and placement beats both.
GuideAnatomy of a clip that works
Hook, payoff, ending. What the thirty seconds are actually made of, and where clips lose people.
Free courseThe Academy
A niche you can survive, a weekly machine, distribution that holds. Free, no email, and it stays free.
These rules came out of building an editor that applies them for you — it keeps captions inside that box and reframes the shot so the speaker stays centred while it does. Worth a look once you have the frame sorted.