Safe Zones: Where TikTok Covers Your Video

Your video fills the screen. The app draws its own interface on top of it. The username and caption sit along the bottom left, the like, comment, share and sound buttons run up the right edge, and the top carries the feed tabs and the search icon. Anything you put under those elements is invisible to the viewer even though it exports correctly.

The parts to keep clear

Bottom third. The worst offender on TikTok, because the caption grows upward as it gets longer. Longer caption, smaller safe zone.
Right edge. The action buttons and the spinning sound disc.
Top strip. Feed navigation and search.
Bottom centre on YouTube Shorts. The title, channel name and subscribe row.

TikTok publishes downloadable safe zone template files inside Ads Manager, and states that the safe zone size depends on the video dimension, the caption length and any interactive add-ons in use (TikTok Ads Manager, checked September 2026). There is no single fixed pixel value to memorise, which is why the templates exist.

The practical rule

Design as if the middle 60 percent of the height and the left 85 percent of the width is all you have. Put captions in the vertical centre rather than the lower third, which is where desktop editing habits put them. Keep a Would You Rather or quiz option grid out of the bottom band.

Then check on a phone before posting, not in the editor.

MakeViral places captions and on-screen panels inside the safe area by default for every format. See the AI Shorts generator.

FAQ

Questions about safe zones

What are the safe zone dimensions for TikTok?

TikTok does not publish one fixed number. Its Ads Manager help states that safe zone size depends on the dimension, the caption length and any add-ons, and it provides downloadable template files instead. As a working rule, keep text out of the bottom third and away from the right edge.

Are TikTok and YouTube Shorts safe zones the same?

No. Both cover the bottom and the right, but the shapes differ. Shorts puts the title, channel name and subscribe button across the bottom centre, while TikTok's caption grows upward from the bottom left. A layout that clears one can still be covered on the other.

Where should captions sit in a 9:16 video?

In the vertical middle of the frame, not the lower third. The lower third is a habit from widescreen video, and on a phone feed it is exactly where the caption and buttons sit. Centre placement also keeps the words near where the eye already is.

See it in action

Make one, do not just read about it

Generator

AI Shorts Generator

Start from a prompt or a product URL, not from a long video you do not have. Voiceover, captions and a vertical export in one pass.

Open it

Keep going

Related terms

Glossary

9:16 aspect ratio

9:16 is the vertical aspect ratio used by TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, nine units wide for every sixteen units tall, most commonly exported at 1080 by 1920 pixels.

Subtitle burn-in

Subtitle burn-in means rendering captions permanently into the video frames, so the words are part of the picture and cannot be switched off, moved or restyled by the player.

Safe zones