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TikTok, Reels and Shorts Safe Zones in Pixels (1080×1920, verified Nov 2026)

TikTok, Reels and Shorts Safe Zones in Pixels

TL;DR: On a 1080×1920 vertical video, TikTok’s in-feed ad template reserves the top 240 px, the bottom 660 px and 120 px on each side, plus a 180 px button column on the right from y 840 down. Meta reserves 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% per side on Reels (about 269 / 672 / 65 px). Google reserves 288 px top, 672 px bottom, 48 px left and 192 px right on YouTube vertical ads. One export that has to survive all three: keep text, faces and numbers inside x 120–888, y 288–1248, and pull it in to x 780 below y 840.

Primores makes performance ad creatives for paid social, from statics to animated video: Performance creatives.

⚠️ Verified 2026-11-04 against the platforms’ own files. Every number below was read this session from TikTok’s downloadable safe-zone template, Meta’s Instagram Reels ads guide and Google’s vertical-video safe-zone image (links under Sources). The platforms change their interfaces without notice; re-check before a large run. All three publish safe zones for ads only. None publishes an organic spec.

Why a separate page from Meta

marketing/meta-ad-placement-safe-zones covers Meta’s placements in depth (Feed, Stories, Reels, the March 2026 unification). This page covers the three vertical short-form surfaces side by side, because one explainer or ad is usually exported once and posted to all three, and each platform covers a different part of the frame.

TikTok (in-feed ads)

TikTok’s help centre says the safe zone “is determined by the dimension (vertical, horizontal, or square), ad caption length, and any additional formats used” and gives the zones only as downloadable files, not as numbers in text. The standard in-feed file is a 720×1280 template. Scaled ×1.5 to 1080×1920:

ZoneOn TikTok’s 720×1280 templateAt 1080×1920What sits there
Top160 px240 pxFollowing / For You tabs, search
Bottom440 px660 pxUsername, caption, CTA, sound
Left80 px120 pxEdge margin
Right80 px120 pxEdge margin
Right button column120 px wide, from 720 px above the bottom180 px wide (x 780–960), from y 840 downAvatar, like, comment, save, share
Safe areax 80–640, y 160–840x 120–960, y 240–1260; x 120–780 below y 840—

The template prints 160, 440, 720 and 80. The width of the button column is not printed; it is measured from the file’s own geometry (an independent overlay tool reports the same 180 px, see Sources).

Long captions and anchors shrink it a lot. TikTok’s “with anchor” file set shows four versions, one per caption length from one line to four lines, on a 540×960 template. Scaled to 1080×1920, the bottom reserve runs from about 812 px (one caption line) to about 1014 px (four lines), the top is about 252 px, and the right column is about 240 px wide from y 360 down. If the ad uses an anchor or a long caption, design to that file, not to the standard one.

TikTok also says the safe zone “may not cover all devices” and recommends checking in the Ad Preview Tool before launch.

Instagram Reels (ads)

Meta’s Instagram Reels ads guide: “Consider leaving at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side of your asset” free of text, logos and key elements. Meta now lists 1440×2560 as the recommended Reels resolution; the percentages hold at any size.

ZoneMeta’s %At 1080×1920At 1440×2560
Top14%~269 px~358 px
Bottom35%672 px896 px
Each side6%~65 px~86 px

Facebook Reels, Stories, Feed and the March 2026 unification of the vertical placements are on marketing/meta-ad-placement-safe-zones.

YouTube Shorts (vertical video ads)

Google’s help page “Use square and vertical video to engage mobile customers” carries a 1080×1920 safe-zone image for vertical video ads, which serve in-stream, in-feed and in Shorts. It asks advertisers to keep “important elements like your logo, product, supers, and others” inside the red safe area, and warns that “overlays, call-to-actions, and buttons may appear in different places depending on the format, campaign type, and screen.”

ZoneAt 1080×1920
Top288 px
Bottom672 px
Left48 px
Right192 px
Safe areax 48–888, y 288–1248

One export for all three

Take the largest reserve on each edge:

EdgeTikTok adsReels adsShorts adsUse
Top240~269288288 px
Bottom660672672672 px
Left120~6548120 px
Right, above y 840120~65192192 px
Right, below y 840300 (margin + button column)~65192300 px

Cross-post safe box at 1080×1920: x 120–888, y 288–1248, narrowed to x 120–780 below y 840. Backgrounds and decoration can run full-bleed; text, faces, numbers and the punchline stay inside the box. A TikTok ad with a long caption or an anchor needs its own, tighter layout (see above).

Organic posts

No platform publishes an organic safe zone. Organic posts drop the sponsored label and the CTA row, so the ad zones above are a conservative superset; designing to them costs a little room and loses nothing. Practitioner layouts that use a shallower bottom for organic TikTok (around 480 px) are not backed by a platform file. Treat them as a judgment call and test on a phone.

Practical rules

  • Centre the copy. The middle band is the only part of the frame every surface leaves alone. On TikTok carousels this matters too: the app clips the top and crowds the bottom.
  • Mirror layouts away from the right edge. Main subject left, secondary elements inside the safe column, so nothing ends up under the button rail.
  • Captions sit above the bottom reserve. At 1080×1920 the bottom edge of a caption card stays above y 1248 for a cross-post export (y 1260 for a TikTok-only ad).
  • Check on a device. Every platform says its template may not match every phone.

Key Takeaways

  • TikTok in-feed ads at 1080×1920: 240 px top, 660 px bottom, 120 px sides, a 180 px button column on the right from y 840 (TikTok’s own template, scaled from 720×1280).
  • Reels ads: 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides (Meta’s ads guide), about 269 / 672 / 65 px at 1080×1920; Meta now recommends 1440×2560.
  • YouTube vertical ads, including Shorts: 288 top, 672 bottom, 48 left, 192 right (Google’s own safe-zone image).
  • One export for all three: keep key content inside x 120–888, y 288–1248, and inside x 780 below y 840.
  • Long TikTok captions or anchors push the bottom reserve to roughly 810–1015 px. Platforms publish ad zones only; there is no official organic spec.

Sources

By Andrej Ruckij