Caption Safe Zones for TikTok, Reels and Shorts (in Pixels)

On a 1080×1920 vertical video, keep captions below about 290 px from the top and above about 670 px from the bottom, and away from the right edge where the like and share buttons sit; that clears TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts at once. In practice, captions in the middle third of the frame, or just above the lower third, are safe on all three apps.

Published safe zones (1080×1920)

These come from each platform's ad specifications, which are the only official numbers; organic posts show slightly less interface, so these are a safe upper bound.

To see these margins on your own video, try the free safe zone checker: it shades what each app covers and tells you whether a caption is clear.

The combined safe box is roughly x 120 to 780–880, y 288 to 1248. It isn't centered: every app puts its buttons on the right, so the safe area sits a little left of center.

What covers your video

• Top: feed tabs, search, camera button (TikTok, Reels, Shorts).
• Right: like, comment, share, save and sound buttons.
• Bottom: username, post caption, audio name, progress bar, and on ads a call-to-action button. A long post caption can push this higher; TikTok notes its safe area depends on caption length.

Where to put captions

• Middle of the frame: safe on every app and easy to read; the classic placement for talking-head videos.
• Just above the lower third (baseline around y 1240): natural for interviews and when the face fills the middle.
• Top, below the tabs (around y 300+): good when the bottom of the shot matters (products, hands, demos).

In Capsubs, Top places captions about 300 px from the top, Middle centers them, and Bottom places them about 400 px above the bottom edge. Note that Bottom sits inside the strip where TikTok and Reels show your username and post caption, which is fine for short post captions but can overlap long ones; Middle is the safest choice on every app. Captions are also kept 60 px in from each side and shrunk if a line would run wider.

Other placement tips

• Faces first. Keep eyes around the upper third (y 600–800) so captions don't cover mouths.
• Hook text goes just under the top margin, centered.
• Logos go small, top-left inside the box; bottom corners are almost always covered.
• Test the widest frame of animated captions (a pop-in grows the text briefly).
• Check a real post before a big campaign; app layouts change with updates and phone shapes vary.

FAQ

Are the safe zones the same for organic posts? Organic posts show slightly less interface than ads, so ad safe zones are a conservative choice that works for both.

What about horizontal videos? Horizontal videos shown in vertical feeds get bars or blur above and below; keep captions within the video itself, near the bottom of the picture.

Do Stories use the same margins? Instagram Stories use the same Meta guidance as Reels (14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides).