Creator media glossary
What is a safe zone in social video?
Short answer
The area of a video kept clear of interface overlays, where important text, faces and graphics are less likely to be obscured.
Key takeaways
- A safe zone is the part of a vertical video that the app's buttons, captions and labels do not cover.
- Meta suggests keeping 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side of a 9:16 Reel clear.
- Keep subtitles, faces and calls to action inside it, away from the bottom and right edge.
- Each platform publishes its own figures, or none; design to the strictest.
Safe zone explained
TikTok, Reels and Shorts all overlay UI on top of the video: the caption, sound label, like/comment/share buttons and profile picture typically sit in the bottom third, and navigation controls sit at the top. Text or a face placed in those bands gets covered on most phones.
Safe zones differ by device, placement and interface. Some platforms publish placement-specific guides; the overlays in these tools are approximate editing guides, not a guarantee that every device will leave that area clear.
Why apps cover part of your video
Short-form apps play video full screen and draw their interface on top of it: the username, caption and audio label along the bottom, like, comment and share buttons down the right side, and the search, tabs or progress bar at the top. Ads add a call-to-action button. Anything you place under those elements, such as subtitles, a product, a price or a face, can be hidden. The safe zone is the area left clear.
Where the idea comes from
Television had safe areas long before phones, because old TVs cropped the edges of the picture by varying amounts. The EBU's recommendation R 95 still sets an action-safe area 3.5% in from each edge and a graphics-safe area 5% in, which is why titles in broadcast sit well inside the frame. Social safe zones are the same idea, but they are uneven: much more space is lost at the bottom and right than at the top and left.
Safe zones by platform
| Platform | Figures | Keep clear |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok | Official | Top 12.5%, bottom 34.4%, left 11.1%, right 11.1% |
| Instagram Reels | Official | Top 14%, bottom 35%, left 6%, right 6% |
| Facebook Reels | Official | Top 14%, bottom 35%, left 6%, right 6% |
| YouTube Shorts | Official | Top 15%, bottom 35%, left 4.4%, right 17.8% |
| Snapchat | Not published | No official figures; see the platform page for what is known |
| Official | Top 14.1%, bottom 41.1%, left 6%, right 18.1% | |
| Not published | No official figures; see the platform page for what is known | |
| Threads | Not published | No official figures; see the platform page for what is known |
| X (Twitter) | Not published | No official figures; see the platform page for what is known |
| Instagram Feed | Approximate | No official figures; see the platform page for what is known |
Meta's Reels safe zone in pixels
Meta's percentages applied to a 1080 × 1920 frame:
| Edge | Keep clear | In pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 14% | 269 px |
| Bottom | 35% | 672 px |
| Left and right | 6% each | 65 px each |
| Area left for text and key visuals | 950 × 979 px, from y = 269 to y = 1248 |
Pixel values rounded to the nearest pixel from Meta's published percentages.
How to design inside the safe zone
- Keep subtitles in the middle third of the frame height, above the caption area.
- Keep faces, products and text away from the right edge, where the buttons sit.
- Leave the top strip free of anything important; it is covered by tabs or the progress bar.
- Use one layout for every platform by staying inside the strictest figures; Instagram Reels' bottom margin is the largest.
- Check the final export, not the editing timeline: crops and scaling can push text out of the zone.
Common safe zone mistakes
- Burned-in captions at the very bottom, where the caption text and username cover them.
- Calls to action in the bottom right corner, under the buttons.
- Designing on a 9:16 template but viewing on a taller phone, where the app adds space or shifts its interface.
- Assuming one app's layout applies to all: each platform publishes, or does not publish, its own figures.
Frequently asked questions
What is a safe zone in video?
The safe zone is the area of the frame that the app’s interface does not cover: captions, the username, like and share buttons, and progress bars sit on top of the video, mostly along the bottom and right edge.
What is the safe zone for Instagram Reels?
Meta suggests leaving at least 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side of a 9:16 Reel free of text and key visuals.
Is the safe zone the same on every phone?
No. Taller screens and different app versions move the interface, which is why we only show figures a platform publishes, and say so when a platform publishes none.
Are safe zones the same for ads and organic posts?
Not quite. Ads add a call-to-action button and sponsored label, so ad safe zones are usually stricter. The figures in the table are the ones each platform publishes, mostly from its ads guides.
Does YouTube Shorts have a safe zone?
Shorts draws its buttons on the right and title, channel and audio along the bottom, like the other apps. Where a platform publishes no figures, the table says so.
Let Koldflux pick the settings
Koldflux chooses the codec, container and bitrate for each platform when it exports.
Free tools that use this
Sources and how we checked
- Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Reels video specs (checked 2026-10-05)
- TikTok Ads Help: Auction In-Feed ads (safe zone files) (checked 2026-10-03)
- EBU R 95: Safe areas for 16:9 television production (checked 2026-10-06)
Reviewed October 6, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Definitions follow the specifications and platform documentation linked above; platform tables come from the same registry the Koldflux tools use.