Free tool · Runs in your browser

Instagram Reels Safe Zone Checker

Drop in a video or an image and see exactly where Instagram Reels’s buttons and caption will sit over it. Nothing is uploaded: the file stays on your computer.

Bold Pop look: a woman typing on a laptop, the word “subscriptions” in bold yellow capitals

Platform

Or drop a file on the phone. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.

Reels margins at 1080 × 1920
EdgePixelsShare of the frame
Top270 px14%
Bottom672 px35%
Left65 px6%
Right, beside the buttons65 px6%
Buttons start, from the top1080 px56%

AlsoTikTokYouTube Shorts

How to use it

  1. 01

    Add your video or image

    Choose a file or drop one on the phone. A 9:16 frame fits exactly; anything else is cropped to fill, as the platform would.

  2. 02

    Read the overlay

    The hatched bands are where the interface sits. Keep words, logos and faces inside the outlined area.

  3. 03

    Take the template with you

    Download the overlay as a transparent 1080 × 1920 PNG and lay it over your timeline in any editor.

What Instagram Reels covers

On Reels the top of the frame carries the Reels header and the camera icon. The bottom carries your username, the caption and the audio, and the right edge carries the like, comment, share and more buttons.

Meta publishes its figures for Reels: leave at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text and logos. This checker uses those numbers.

What belongs inside the safe zone

Anything a viewer has to read or recognise: captions, headlines, prices, a logo, a call to action, a face. Background footage can run to every edge; that is what it is for.

The right-hand buttons do not reach the top of the frame. Above the point where they start, the right margin is as narrow as the left, so a headline high in the frame can run wider than captions lower down.

Posting the same video everywhere

Switch the checker to All three. It shows the strictest margin on each edge, so text inside it is clear on TikTok, Reels and Shorts at once.

Margins in pixels on a 1080 × 1920 video
EdgeTikTokReelsShortsAll three
Top150270290290
Bottom484672672672
Left60656065
Right, beside the buttons18065192192
Buttons start, from the top8001080840800
The guideTikTok, Reels and Shorts safe zones: where your text survivesRead it

Questions

What is the Instagram Reels safe zone in pixels?

The table on this page gives each margin for a 1080 × 1920 video, in pixels and as a share of the frame. The margins scale with the frame, so the percentages hold at any 9:16 size.

Is my video uploaded anywhere?

No. The checker reads the file in your browser and draws over it there. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else, and closing the tab forgets the file.

How do I use the overlay PNG in my editor?

Put the PNG on a track above your video, sized to the full frame, and move your text until it sits inside the outline. Hide or delete the overlay before you export.

Do safe zones change?

Yes. Platforms move their buttons from time to time, and a long caption covers more of the bottom than a short one. Leave a little more room than the minimum, and check again after a redesign.

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