Instagram Reels Safe Zone 2026: Template, Pixel Sizes and Checker

Short answer: for Instagram Reels ads, Meta asks you to keep the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side of the frame free of text, logos and other key elements. On a 1080 × 1920 video that is 269 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom and 65 px on the left and right, which leaves a safe box of 950 × 979 px in the middle. On the 1440 × 2560 upload that Meta now recommends, the same rule gives 358 px, 896 px and 86 px. Organic Reels carry less interface: measured in the Instagram app, the margins are about 250 px at the top, 319 px at the bottom, 86 px on the left and 119 px on the right. Meta publishes no organic numbers, so if a Reel might ever be boosted or run as an ad, design it to the ad margins from the start.

1. Reels safe zone in pixels

The table gives both sets of margins on the standard 1080 × 1920 canvas. Top and bottom percentages are of the 1920 px height, left and right percentages are of the 1080 px width, and every value is rounded to the nearest whole pixel.

Source: Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video ads and Instagram Reels image ads, which ask you to leave "at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side" free. The organic column is our own measurement from the Instagram app, not a Meta figure. Last verified: 28 September 2026.

On a 1440 × 2560 upload

Meta's Ads Guide now lists 1440 × 2560 as the recommended resolution for Reels ads. The percentages do not change, so the margins become 358 px at the top, 896 px at the bottom and 86 px on each side, which leaves a safe box of 1268 × 1306 px. If you edit at 1080 × 1920 and export at 1440 × 2560, scale the whole layout rather than the margins: a design that is safe at one size is safe at the other.

2. What covers each part of the frame

The margins are not arbitrary. Each one matches a piece of interface that Instagram draws on top of your video, and knowing what sits where makes it easier to decide what can go near an edge and what cannot.

Top 14%: header and status bar

The top of the Reels viewer carries the Reels header with the camera shortcut, and above it the phone's own status bar with the clock, the battery and, on many phones, the camera cutout. None of it is large, but it is high contrast and sits exactly where editors like to put a title card. Treat the top 269 px as background: sky, texture, the top of a head, never words.

Bottom 35%: the busiest part of the screen

The lower third is where Instagram stacks the account picture and name, the Follow button, the first lines of the caption, the audio credit and the app's own navigation. On an ad, the Sponsored label and the call to action button (Shop now, Learn more, Sign up and similar) join them, and the caption grows upward when a viewer taps it. That is why Meta's ad margin at the bottom is more than twice the organic one. Anything you place in the lower 672 px of a Reels ad should be something you are happy to lose.

Meta goes further in one case. Its help page on text overlays and the safe zone asks advertisers who add a disclaimer to a Reels ad to leave the bottom 40% of the ad free of text, logos and other key elements. On 1080 × 1920 that line sits at y 1152, which is 96 px higher than the usual ad line.

Right edge: the action column

The like, comment and share buttons, the more menu and the audio icon stack in a column along the right edge, mostly in the lower half of the screen. Meta's ad rule reserves only 6% on the sides because the 35% bottom margin already swallows most of that column, but a right aligned line of text sitting just above the bottom margin can still run into the top icons. Our organic measurement reserves 119 px on the right for exactly that reason. Centre or left align anything that sits in the lower half of the frame.

Left edge

Nothing sits permanently on the left, but rounded corners clip the edge on most phones, and text that touches the frame looks cramped even when it is technically visible. Treat the 65 px ad margin as a minimum, not as a target.

3. Where to put text, logos, captions and calls to action

With the ad margins in place, the usable area of a Reels ad is a box 950 px wide and 979 px tall, a little under half of the frame. Plan the layout inside it from the first draft rather than moving elements out of the way at the end.

• Hook and headline: put the opening line in the upper part of the safe box, just below the 269 px line. It is the first place the eye lands, and nothing in the interface competes with it there.
• Burned in captions: for ads, the last line of a subtitle must end above y 1248. Two short lines placed in the lower part of the safe box stay clear of the Instagram caption, the call to action button and the right column. Organic Reels give you more room, down to about y 1601, but keeping to the ad line means one master works for both.
• Logo: keep it small and inside the safe box, at its top left or top right rather than in the corners of the frame. The top corners sit under the header and the status bar, the bottom corners under the account row and the icons.
• Offer, price and legal copy: keep them in the middle band and large enough to read without pausing. If the ad carries a disclaimer, follow Meta's 40% rule and keep everything above y 1152.
• Your own call to action: Meta adds its own button to every Reels ad, so a drawn "Shop now" at the bottom of the video only duplicates it and gets covered. If you want an on screen prompt, put it in the middle band and point it down toward the real button.
• Faces and products: frame the subject in the centre of the safe box. A face cut by the caption, or a product hidden behind the icons, reads as a mistake even when every line of text is safe.

Before you export, look at the result at phone size. The Social Mockup Preview places your frame inside a simulated Reels screen, which catches problems that a large edit window hides.

4. Reels ads vs organic Reels

The two share a canvas but not a rulebook. This is what changes when a Reel becomes an ad.

Meta's Reels ad specs also list what a Reels ad cannot contain, including licensed music and product tags, so a Reel built on a licensed track can be posted organically but cannot be turned into an ad as it is. Captions are optional but recommended, and sound is optional but strongly recommended. Video should use H.264 compression, square pixels, a fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio at 128 kbps or more.

Sources: Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video, Instagram Reels image, Instagram Help Center, reel size and aspect ratios, recording a reel. Last verified 28 September 2026.

If you post organically and boost later, or run the same video as a partnership ad, the ad margins apply. Designing every Reel to 14%, 35% and 6% costs a little room at the bottom and saves a second edit.

5. Download the Reels template and use it in your editor

The Safe Zone Templates page has a free transparent PNG for Instagram Reels, drawn from the same numbers as the checker: 269 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom and 65 px on each side. Download it at 1080 × 1920, or at 2160 × 3840 if you edit in 4K. The red areas are the danger zones and the clear box in the middle is where your text belongs.

Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro

1. Import the PNG and place it on the highest video track, above every clip and title.
2. Stretch it across the whole timeline and lock the track so it cannot be nudged.
3. Lower its opacity if the red makes it hard to judge colour.
4. Build titles, captions and graphics inside the clear box.
5. Disable the overlay track before you export. Forgetting this step is how templates end up inside published ads.

CapCut

1. Save the PNG to your phone or computer.
2. In a 9:16 project, choose Overlay, then Add overlay, and pick the PNG.
3. Scale it until it fills the frame exactly.
4. Move text and auto captions inside the clear area, then delete the overlay layer before export.

Photoshop, Figma and Canva

For stills and motion graphics, guides are quicker than an overlay. On a 1080 × 1920 artboard set horizontal guides at y 269 and y 1248, and vertical guides at x 65 and x 1015. On 1440 × 2560 use y 358, y 1664, x 86 and x 1354.

6. Common mistakes

• Using old numbers. Figures such as 250 px at the top and 340 px at the bottom still circulate. Meta prints those for Facebook Stories video ads, not for Instagram Reels. The Reels ad rule is 14%, 35% and 6%.
• Designing to organic margins, then boosting. A caption that sits comfortably above the organic account row lands inside the 35% ad margin once the call to action button appears.
• Subtitles at the very bottom. Many editing apps place captions near the lower edge by default, which is exactly where the Instagram caption and the account name sit.
• Right aligned text in the lower half. It collides with the like, comment and share column.
• Trusting the edit window. A large preview on a monitor shows no interface at all. Check the frame with the overlay switched on, or in the checker, before you export.
• Exporting the template. Forgetting to hide the overlay track ships the red zones with the video.
• Letting automatic crops decide. When one ad runs across placements, Ads Manager adjusts your media to fit them, and Meta itself advises reviewing the automatic crops before you publish (Meta Business Help Center). The Meta ad specs guide lists the other sizes.

7. Instagram Reels safe zone FAQ

What is the Instagram Reels safe zone in 2026?

For ads, Meta's Ads Guide asks you to keep 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and key elements: 269 px, 672 px and 65 px on a 1080 × 1920 frame. For organic Reels Meta publishes no numbers. Measured in the app, they are about 250 px at the top, 319 px at the bottom, 86 px on the left and 119 px on the right.

What size should an Instagram Reel be?

Export in 9:16. 1080 × 1920 is the usual size for organic Reels, and Instagram accepts ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16 with at least 720 px and 30 frames per second. For Reels ads, Meta recommends 1440 × 2560 as MP4 or MOV, up to 4 GB.

Is the Reels safe zone the same as the Stories safe zone?

For ads, yes. Meta gives Instagram Reels ads and Instagram Stories ads the same 14%, 35% and 6% margins, so one 9:16 master and one template can serve both. The interface differs, though, and Facebook Stories video ads use their own figures. For organic posts the two differ as well: organic Reels use the measured margins above, while organic Stories, which have no call to action, use a guide of 250 px at the top and bottom and 65 px at the sides. The Instagram Story safe zone guide covers the differences.

Where should subtitles go on an Instagram Reel?

Inside the safe box, with the last line ending above y 1248 on a 1080 × 1920 ad. Two short lines in the lower part of the safe box stay clear of the caption, the call to action button and the right hand icons, and still read naturally as subtitles.

How long can an Instagram Reel be?

Instagram lets you record Reels of up to 20 minutes, but Reels longer than 3 minutes are not recommended to new audiences. Reels ads can run from 0 seconds to 15 minutes, according to Meta's Ads Guide.

What size is the Reel cover image?

Instagram recommends 420 × 654 px for Reel covers, a 1:1.55 ratio. The cover is a separate image from the video, so keep its title in the centre where smaller thumbnails will not cut it.

Can I check a Reel without uploading it anywhere?

Yes. The Safe Zone Checker reads the file in your browser and draws the overlay locally, so the video never leaves your computer. Open it with the Reels ad overlay preselected, or switch between Feed and Ads once your video is loaded.

8. Related guides and tools

• Instagram Story safe zone: the same ad margins, plus a separate guide for organic Stories.
• Meta ad specs 2026: sizes, file limits and text limits for every Facebook and Instagram placement.
• TikTok safe zone dimensions: what changes when the same edit goes to TikTok.
• YouTube Shorts safe area: Google's vertical template compared.
• Social and IAB specs table: every platform's safe zone on one page.