Caption safe zones for vertical video

By the maker of Captions Cut. Facts checked on 22 October 2026 from the pages listed under Sources.

The short answer

On a 1080 × 1920 vertical video, keep captions below about 290 pixels from the top and above about 670 pixels from the bottom (roughly the band from 15% to 65% of the height), and away from the right edge. That band is clear in Meta’s Reels guide (14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides), Snapchat’s (10% top, 35% bottom, plus a button column on the right) and Google’s vertical video template for YouTube (288 px top, 672 px bottom, 192 px right). TikTok publishes its zones only as downloadable templates.

The numbers, on a 1080 × 1920 frame

App	Top	Bottom	Sides	Where it is stated
Instagram Reels	14% (≈ 269 px)	35% (≈ 672 px)	6% each (≈ 65 px)	Meta ads guide, Instagram Reels
Facebook Reels	≈ 14%	≈ 35%	≈ 6% each	Meta ads guide, Facebook Reels
YouTube Shorts	288 px	672 px	48 px left, 192 px right	Google Ads vertical video template
Snapchat (Spotlight, Stories)	10% (192 px)	35% (672 px)	6% each, and a 15% × 45% column on the right from the bottom up (162 × 864 px)	Snapchat ads guide
TikTok	Not stated in text	Not stated in text	Not stated in text	TikTok ads guide (zones only in downloadable templates)

The band that is clear everywhere

Overlay the published zones and the area none of them covers, on 1080 × 1920, runs from 288 px to 1,248 px down (15% to 65% of the height) and from 65 px in from the left to 192 px in from the right. A caption of two or three lines fits there comfortably at a size that reads on a phone.

These numbers are from ads guides, where the bottom also holds a call-to-action button. Organic posts have less at the bottom (the username, the caption and the sound), so captions can sit lower there; the band above is the choice that works for both.

In practice

Put the speaker’s face in the top half and the captions in the band below it, so neither covers the other.
Keep lines short: in vertical video the BBC recommends about 25 characters per line across 90% of the width.
Check the clip in the app’s own preview before posting; each app changes its layout from time to time.
In Captions Cut, drag the captions anywhere on the clip, or snap them to the top, middle or bottom.

How we checked

Percentages are as each guide states them; pixel figures are those percentages applied to 1080 × 1920, except YouTube’s, which are read from Google’s own 1080 × 1920 template, and Snapchat’s column, which is drawn in its diagram. Read on 22 October 2026.

Questions

What is a safe zone in vertical video?

The part of the frame an app does not cover with its own interface: the top bar, the buttons down the right, and the username, caption and sound at the bottom. Text outside it may be hidden.

Are TikTok’s safe zones the same as Reels’?

TikTok does not publish its numbers in text, only as templates. Its layout is similar: buttons down the right and text along the bottom, so the band that clears Reels and Shorts is the safe choice for TikTok too.

Sources

Each page read on 22 October 2026.

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