Safe Zone Checker
Simulate the TikTok, Reels & Shorts UI before you hit publish.
Drop screenshot here
or click Upload
📂 Upload Video Screenshot
PNG, JPG, WEBP — or drag & drop
Pro Tip: Keep faces, text, and CTAs within the green safe zone. The right edge is always occupied by platform action buttons (Like, Share, Follow) — regardless of platform.
Why Composition Matters
Modern short-form video feeds are visually busy by design. Platform UI elements — action buttons, captions, username handles, song badges, and algorithmic suggestion bars — all overlay your content in fixed, predictable positions. Creators who ignore this end up with their most important visuals hidden behind a "Follow" button or cut off by an auto-generated caption strip. A Safe Zone Checker gives you an exact preview of how your frame will look to a real viewer scrolling through the feed. Before you spend hours in post-production adding text, graphics, or product callouts, run a screenshot through the checker. It takes five seconds and can save you an embarrassing reshoot or a wasted ad budget. The difference between a high-performing video and a confusing one is often just a few pixels of margin.
Aspect Ratio & Platform Guide
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts all share the core 9:16 aspect ratio (1080×1920 pixels), but each platform places its UI chrome differently. TikTok anchors its action sidebar at roughly 85% height on the right. Reels pushes its caption strip slightly higher. YouTube Shorts stacks its title and subscribe button at the top and uses slightly wider right-rail elements. The safest universal rule is the "Middle 60%": keep all critical elements within the central 60% of the frame horizontally and between 15–75% vertically. This habit keeps your content clean and readable across all platforms and device notch sizes, from iPhone 15 Pro Max to budget Android handsets running older OS versions with different UI scaling.
What Belongs in the Safe Zone
Your safe zone should contain everything that drives action: your product, your face, your call-to-action, on-screen text, price tags, promo codes, and any graphic elements you want the viewer to actually notice. The danger zones — top, right rail, and bottom — are reserved territory. Captions placed too low get swallowed by the audio track badge. Text placed too far right gets covered by the Like, Save, and Share interaction column. Promotional graphics placed too close to the top get clipped by the back-button and search row. Faces cropped to the lower third often get obscured by caption overlays. Running your thumbnail or key frames through this checker before publishing is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-effort workflow habits any content creator or social media manager can develop.
Using This Tool Effectively
Export a still frame from your video at full 9:16 resolution before your final edit — ideally the moment where your most important visual or text element appears on screen. Upload it here, select your target platform, and toggle the overlay on. Green means clear; red means that area will be partially or fully obscured for real viewers. Check all three platforms if you're cross-posting, since a single piece of content published on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts will each have slightly different risk areas. The Export Preview button saves an annotated PNG you can share with video editors, clients, or social media team members so everyone stays aligned before publishing. No signup, no watermark, no limits — completely free and instant right in your browser.