How to check your YouTube Shorts safe zone
- Export your video or a still frame at 1080×1920 (9:16). Other sizes work, but the overlay assumes a vertical 9:16 frame.
- Click Upload file and pick the video or image. It opens locally in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
- Leave the overlay on and look for faces, captions, logos, or calls to action sitting under the red YouTube Shorts UI regions.
- Toggle the overlay off to see the clean frame, move anything that was covered into the middle band, then re-export and check again.
What is the YouTube Shorts safe zone?
YouTube Shorts are vertical 1080×1920 videos. The player overlays a search and camera bar at the top, a column of like, dislike, comment, share, and remix buttons on the right, and your title, channel name, and subscribe button along the bottom. The safe zone is the middle of the frame that none of those touch.
Where should captions go on a Short?
Place subtitles and on-screen text in the middle band of the frame, left of the action rail. The bottom block on Shorts is shorter than TikTok's (roughly 300px versus about 480px), so a clip that is safe on TikTok is usually safe on Shorts. The reverse is not true: captions placed just above the Shorts title row will often sit under TikTok's caption.
Shorts length, size, and thumbnails
Shorts can be up to 3 minutes long and should be vertical or square; 9:16 at 1080×1920 fills the screen. Viewers see Shorts in the Shorts feed, on your channel's Shorts tab, and in search, where the thumbnail is a vertical crop. Put a readable frame near the start of the video, and keep the title short — only the first line or two show over the video.
Safe zone margins compared: TikTok vs Reels vs Shorts
Approximate areas covered by each app's interface on a 1080×1920 frame, as used by the overlays in these checkers. Caption length, ads, and app updates shift them slightly, so leave a little extra room.
| Platform | Top | Right rail | Bottom |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | ~140px | ~200px | ~484px |
| Instagram Reels | ~108px | ~144px | ~420px |
| YouTube Shorts | ~121px | ~144px | ~307px |
If you post one clip to all three, design for the strictest edges: TikTok's bottom and right rail, and the tallest top bar. Keeping text roughly between 15% and 70% of the frame height, away from the right edge, clears every app.