Free tool
Reels safe zone checker
By the KeyMo team · Updated
This free checker draws the edges of a vertical frame that apps may cover with buttons and captions, tests whether your caption block sits inside them, and exports a transparent PNG overlay. Meta publishes margins for Reels ads only. For everything else it draws KeyMo's own conservative margins and labels them that way. Your files never leave the browser.
Safe zone checker
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Meta Reels ad safe zone
Meta's Ads Guide for Reels ads: at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text and logos.
Meta's page| Edge | Keep clear | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 14% | 269 px |
| Bottom | 35% | 672 px |
| Left | 6% | 65 px |
| Right | 6% | 65 px |
Safe box: 950 x 979 px, from x 65 and y 269.
Result
- OKThe caption block sits inside the safe box.
- NoteNo frame loaded. Add a screenshot or clip to check its size and shape too.
1080 x 1920 px. The image names the margin source, so it never passes as a platform file.
How to use the checker
- Pick the platform, then say whether you are posting normally or running a paid ad. That choice decides which margins are drawn, and the label above the numbers tells you where they come from.
- Optional: add a screenshot or a clip. A video shows one frame, and the slider moves through it. Without a file you get a blank 1080x1920 frame, the size KeyMo clips are exported at.
- Move the three caption sliders until the green box covers the area your caption uses. The box turns amber if any part of it leaves the safe area, and the result list says by how many pixels and what to change.
- Download the transparent PNG and drop it on top of your edit as a guide layer. Delete the layer before you export.
The red bands are the edges the checker treats as keep-clear. The dashed line marks the box inside them. If you load a file, its pixel size and shape are checked as well, so a 16:9 export or a 720p file is flagged before you upload it.
What is official and what is KeyMo's recommendation
Only one set of margin numbers exists in the platform pages we read: Meta's, for Reels ads. Every other margin this tool draws is a choice we made, and the tool prints that on screen and inside the PNG so the file cannot pass for a platform template.
| You pick | What is drawn | Where the numbers come from |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels or Facebook Reels, paid ad | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% each side | Meta Ads Guide for Reels ads. With the disclaimer box ticked the bottom becomes 40%, from Meta Business Help |
| Instagram Reels or Facebook Reels, regular post | The same four percentages | KeyMo's conservative recommendation. Meta states no figure for ordinary Reels in the pages we read |
| TikTok, regular post or ad | The same four percentages | KeyMo's conservative recommendation. TikTok says its zone depends on video shape and caption length and offers downloadable files, with no numbers in text |
| YouTube Shorts | The same four percentages | KeyMo's conservative recommendation. YouTube's help pages give no safe-zone figure |
| Your own margins | Whatever you type, 0 to 80% per edge | You. Shown as your own margins, not as a rule |
Our default borrows Meta's ad percentages because they are the strictest published figures we know of. That makes them a careful starting point for the other apps, not a promise that those apps behave the same way. If a platform later publishes its own numbers, use the own-margins option to enter them.
The pixel arithmetic, by frame size
Percentages are applied to the actual size of your frame and rounded to whole pixels, so a 720x1280 export gets smaller margins in pixels than a 1080x1920 one while keeping the same proportions.
| Frame | Top | Bottom | Each side | Safe box (w x h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080x1920 | 269 px | 672 px | 65 px | 950 x 979 |
| 1080x1920, ad with disclaimer | 269 px | 768 px | 65 px | 950 x 883 |
| 720x1280 | 179 px | 448 px | 43 px | 634 x 653 |
| 1080x2400 | 336 px | 840 px | 65 px | 950 x 1224 |
Meta also says that on screens taller than 9:16 it may zoom the creative to fill the screen, which crops what is outside the safe zone, or show it at 9:16 on a black background. The checker cannot predict which happens on a given phone, so keep captions well inside the box rather than on its edge.
Three worked examples
Example 1, a caption that sits too low. A podcast clip at 1080x1920 has a two-line caption block that starts 85% of the way down and is 8% of the frame tall. Its bottom edge is at 93%, which is 538 px past the 65% line where the bottom band begins. The checker says to move the top edge to 57% from the top. At 57% the block ends exactly on the line, so nudging it a little higher gives margin to spare.
Example 2, a paid ad with a disclaimer. Tick the disclaimer box and the bottom band grows from 672 px to 768 px. A caption block 10% tall can now start no lower than 50% from the top. The same caption passes without the disclaimer at 55%, which is why ad edits often need captions moved up late in the process.
Example 3, a file that is the wrong shape. A 1080x2400 screen recording is 9:20, taller than 9:16. For Instagram Reels the checker flags it, since Instagram Help gives a range of 1.91:1 to 9:16 for uploads. For TikTok and Shorts it only notes the shape, because the pages we read do not say how those apps treat a taller file. Re-export at 9:16 and the question goes away.
What the checker does not tell you
- It does not know where each app puts its buttons today. Apps change their layouts, and none of the pages we read give button positions.
- It cannot read your caption text. You describe the block with the sliders, so a long caption that wraps to a third line needs a taller block.
- TikTok says a longer caption makes its zone smaller. The tool shows a reminder, not a different number, because TikTok publishes no number.
- A preview is not a post. TikTok itself warns that its ad preview can differ slightly from the live ad, so look at the real post on a phone before you rely on it.
For the background behind the numbers, read the safe zone glossary entry, the page on Reels, Shorts and TikTok together, and the per-app pages for Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Where KeyMo fits
If you cut clips by hand, this checker saves the guesswork after the edit. KeyMo does the cutting itself: it turns a long video or podcast into scored, captioned 9:16 clips at 1080x1920, with 12 caption styles to choose from. It has no free plan, and you can see the plans on the pricing page.
Caption styles sit in different places, so we do not claim that every one clears every platform's margins. Export a clip, load a frame of it here, and check the style you picked before you post.
Sources: Meta Ads Guide: Instagram Reels video ads (safe zone percentages) (checked 11 October 2026); Meta Ads Guide: Facebook Reels video ads (safe zone percentages) (checked 11 October 2026); Meta Business Help: About text overlays and the safe zone for ads in Stories and Reels (checked 11 October 2026); Instagram Help: Reel size and aspect ratios (checked 11 October 2026); TikTok Ads Help: Auction in-feed ads (safe zone files, ad sizes) (checked 11 October 2026); TikTok Ads Help: Reservation in-feed ads (key elements, longer captions) (checked 11 October 2026); YouTube Help: Shorts upload (square or vertical, up to 3 minutes) (checked 11 October 2026); YouTube Help: Video resolution and aspect ratios (checked 11 October 2026).