YouTube Shorts Safe Zone Checker

What does Google say about the Shorts safe zone?

Google's YouTube Shorts ads page tells advertisers to keep text, logos and calls to action out of the "red zones". It names three: the top 10 percent, the bottom 25 percent and the right-hand 10 percent of the frame, where the channel name, captions and engagement buttons appear. These are official figures, so the checker labels the preset "official figures".

The percentages convert exactly on a 1080x1920 frame, with no rounding:

Google Ads Help gives the same advice as a 1080x1920 diagram with a downloadable PNG template. Its pixel values are in the image only, so the checker uses the percentages from the Shorts ads page. Checked 12 Oct 2026.

How is Shorts different from Reels and TikTok?

Shorts gives you the most vertical room of the official presets. Its safe area is 1,248 px tall, against 979 px for Instagram Reels and 980 px for the approximate TikTok preset.

This has one practical effect: a layout built only for Shorts often fails on Reels and TikTok. Text placed at 1,300 px clears the Shorts bottom zone but sits in the Reels and TikTok bottom zones. If one cut runs on all three, design to the tighter Reels and TikTok margins and check it here.

Where should text and products sit on a Shorts ad?

Place on-screen text and the product inside 192 px to 1,440 px down and 0 to 972 px across. The safe area is pushed left by the button column, so its centre line is at 486 px, not 540 px.

• Hook text: start it just under 192 px. Shorts lets the first line sit higher than Reels or TikTok.
• Subtitles: keep the last line above 1,440 px. The lower third of the frame, from about 1,280 px down, is only partly usable.
• Right edge: keep stickers, prices and logos left of 972 px. Long centred captions that reach the right edge run under the buttons.
• Left edge: Google states no margin, but a gap of 40 to 60 px keeps text off the screen edge on phones with rounded corners.

For AI video, Shorts' taller safe area suits full-body shots and product-in-hand framing. Prompt for the subject in the middle of the frame, then check the first and last frame of each clip.

Worked example: a Shorts-first frame reused on Reels

A 1080x1920 frame has hook text centred from 200 to 280 px down, a product held at 800 px, and a price line from 1,300 to 1,380 px, centred.

Load it and pick YouTube Shorts:

1. The hook text starts at 200 px, below the 192 px top zone. It clears.
2. The product at 800 px is in the safe area.
3. The price line ends at 1,380 px, above the 1,440 px bottom zone. It clears.

Now click Instagram Reels on the same frame. The hook text starts inside Reels' 269 px top zone, and the price line sits inside the bottom zone, which starts at 1,248 px. To run this cut on Reels too, move the hook to about 280 px and the price line above 1,248 px.

How do you get a Shorts overlay for your editor?

Open the transparent overlays section under the checker and click YouTube Shorts (ads). It downloads a 1080x1920 PNG with the top, bottom and right zones shaded and the rest transparent. Put it on the top track in CapCut or Premiere while you edit, and hide it before export.

The overlay and the on-screen check are drawn in your browser from the same data. Your video never leaves your device.

Related checks

Run the same frame against all six presets on the safe zone checker. Meta's figures are explained on the Instagram Reels safe zone page, and TikTok's approximate zones on the TikTok safe zone page. For Shorts length and file specs, see YouTube Shorts ad specs.

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