design tool
Safe zone checker for Reels, TikTok and Shorts
Drop a 9:16 image or a video and this safe zone checker shades the parts of the frame each app covers with its own buttons and captions, so you can see at once whether a headline, a price or a face sits underneath them. Reels follow Meta's published figures; TikTok and Shorts use measured boxes, dated.
Loading the tool…
- Runs on your device, nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign in
- No watermark, no file limit
How it works
- 1
Drop a frame
Choose an image, or a video and then drag the slider to the moment you want to check.
- 2
Pick the platforms
Tick Instagram and Facebook Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts in any combination. The shading always covers the strictest of the ones ticked.
- 3
Look inside the boxes
Everything that must be read belongs inside every outlined box: text, prices, logos and faces.
- 4
Save the overlay
Press Download PNG with the zones to send the marked up frame to whoever is editing the video.
What each overlay represents
On a vertical video the app draws over the picture: the account name and follow button along the top, the caption, sound and call to action across the bottom, and like, comment and share buttons down the right. Meta is the only platform that publishes the numbers, for Reels: keep 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% at each side free of anything essential. On a 1080 by 1920 frame that is 269, 672 and 65 pixels. The checker draws exactly those figures, scaled to your frame, so anything you place inside the blue box clears the Reels interface.
Why the TikTok and Shorts boxes carry a date
TikTok hands out template images rather than figures, because its bottom band grows with the length of the caption. Measuring those templates on a 1080 by 1920 frame gives about 130 pixels at the top, 484 at the bottom and 140 down the right hand side, with no fixed figure on the left. The Shorts box was measured the same way. Both are working figures checked in August 2026, and apps change their layout without notice, so the page dates them and suggests a final look on a real phone before you post.
Checking several platforms at once
When more than one platform is ticked, the shaded area is the union of all of them: the deepest top band, the deepest bottom band and the widest sides. That leaves the one rectangle that is safe everywhere you post, which is usually the most practical rule, because a video made for Reels tends to be cross posted to TikTok and Shorts the same day. Untick a platform to see how much room you gain when a video is going to one place only.
Checking a frame from a video
Drop the exported video itself and a slider appears. Drag it to each scene in turn: the opening title, the offer, the closing call to action. The frame is decoded in the page by the browser's own video player, so it only works for formats that browser can play; MP4 with H.264 and WebM work almost everywhere. Footage that is not 9:16 is drawn filling the frame the way a full screen player shows it, with the cut edges noted, which is useful in itself when a landscape clip is about to be posted as a vertical one. One more check for videos made in the video builder: vertical captions are drawn as a dark pill whose bottom edge sits 120 pixels above the frame edge, inside the band Reels covers. Where that matters, switch captions off for that scene in the voice dialog and carry the words as text in the middle of the frame.
Limits worth knowing
The overlays are rectangles, while the real interface is irregular, so a corner of the shading may be slightly generous. The checker cannot read your frame; it shows where the interface sits and leaves the judgement to you. Images and videos are opened in this tab only. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored, ever.
Limits
- TikTok publishes downloadable templates rather than numbers, so its box here is a measured figure from August 2026: about 130 pixels at the top, 484 at the bottom and 140 on the right.
- The Shorts box is also measured, from August 2026: about 180 top, 390 bottom, 60 left and 120 right.
- A frame that is not 9:16 is drawn filling a 9:16 frame, with the overflow cut off, and the page says so.
- A video in a format this browser cannot decode gets a plain message; drop a screenshot of the frame instead.
What it does not do
- It does not detect text or faces; you judge what sits in the shaded areas.
- It does not edit, crop or export the video itself.
- It does not draw the feed, story or ad placements, which use different overlays.
Questions people ask
Where should captions go on a Reel?
Inside the band between 14% from the top and 35% from the bottom, which on a 1080 by 1920 frame means keeping their lowest line at least 672 pixels above the bottom edge. Burned in captions placed lower, where film subtitles usually sit, end up under the app's own caption text and buttons. Drop a frame here to see exactly how much room is left.
Can I check a landscape video?
Yes, but the result shows what a full screen vertical player would do to it: the sides are cut off to fill the 9:16 frame and the page warns you. That is a useful check before posting a 16:9 clip to Reels or TikTok. For a fair test of the layout itself, export the vertical version at 1080 by 1920 and drop that.
Does the safe zone change for ads?
The Reels figures here are the ones Meta states for Reels ads, and Meta applies them to Facebook Reels too. Ads can add a longer primary text and a call to action button, so the bottom band matters even more. Stories and feed placements use different overlays that this checker does not draw. For TikTok, longer ad captions push the covered bottom band higher.
Why is there no TikTok left margin?
The TikTok figures were measured for the top band, the bottom band and the column of buttons on the right; no fixed left inset was measured, so none is drawn. Leaving some room on the left is still sensible, since a phone's rounded corners and a slight crop can clip text that touches the edge. Ticking Shorts as well adds a 60 pixel left margin.
Can I send the marked up frame to my editor?
Yes. Download PNG with the zones saves the frame at 1080 by 1920 with the shading and the coloured outlines drawn on, named after your file. It is an ordinary image, so it can go in an email, a chat or a review document. The original image or video is never changed, and neither is sent anywhere by this page.
Make the vertical video itself
Take what you made here into videos.
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Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .