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YouTube Shorts dimensions, vertical sizes and safe zones (2026)
YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Reels dimensions, pixel safe zones for each platform, and how to convert 16:9 to 9:16 by crop, reframe, split-screen or letterbox.
By the Reeltopus team · Updated · 9 min read
YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels all fill the phone screen with a 9:16 frame, and 1080 × 1920 pixels is the standard size to export at. The harder part is what each app puts on top of your video: titles, usernames, captions and a column of buttons. This guide lists the sizes and aspect ratios each platform accepts, the safe zones that keep your text and faces visible, and four ways to turn a 16:9 video into a 9:16 one, with the trade-offs of each. Platform numbers come from each platform's own help pages, checked October 2026.
The quick answer
- Size: 1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16, for Shorts, TikTok, Reels and full-screen vertical feeds on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.
- Safe area for every platform at once: keep faces, captions and on-screen text at least 288 px from the top, 672 px from the bottom, 65 px from the left and 192 px from the right. That leaves a clear box of 823 × 960 pixels.
- Converting from 16:9: crop for a single person who stays still, reframe for a speaker who moves, split-screen for two people talking, letterbox when the whole frame matters.
Sizes and aspect ratios by platform (checked October 2026)
| Platform | Export at | What the platform accepts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Shorts | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | Square or vertical, up to 3 minutes. Wider videos are regular uploads | YouTube Help |
| TikTok | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | For in-feed ads, 9:16 is recommended at 540 × 960 or larger; 1:1 and 16:9 are also accepted | TikTok Ads Help |
| Instagram Reels | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | Any ratio from 1.91:1 to 9:16, at least 720 pixels and 30 fps | Instagram Help |
| 1080 × 1920, 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1080 | Any ratio from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1, from 256 × 144 up to 4096 × 2304, up to 5 GB | LinkedIn Help | |
| X | 1920 × 1080 or 1080 × 1080; 9:16 for the full-screen player | Web uploads: ratios from 1:2.39 to 2.39:1, up to 1920 × 1200 (or 1200 × 1900) | X Help |
| Facebook Reels | 1080 × 1920 (9:16) | Since June 2025, Reels have no length or format restrictions | Meta newsroom |
A few notes on the table:
- YouTube doesn't name a pixel size for Shorts in its help pages. It only requires square or vertical. 1080 × 1920 is the 9:16 frame at 1080p, and it is the size Google uses for its vertical video safe-zone diagram.
- X's listed vertical maximum for web uploads (1200 × 1900) is slightly shorter than 1080 × 1920. If the web uploader rejects a vertical file, this is the first thing to check.
- LinkedIn and X both show vertical video smaller in the main feed than in their full-screen players. For LinkedIn, 4:5 (1080 × 1350) takes up more of the main feed. See our LinkedIn page.
What a safe zone is
A safe zone is the part of the frame the app's interface doesn't cover. In a vertical feed, the bottom of the frame carries the username, the post caption and sometimes a sound or link line. The right edge has the like, comment and share buttons. The top has tabs or a search bar. Anything you put under those, like a burned-in caption or the speaker's chin, can be hidden.
Safe-zone numbers for these apps vary across guides, and some are measured from screenshots rather than published. Below we say which numbers are official and which are our estimates.
Safe zones by platform
All margins are in pixels on a 1080 × 1920 frame, measured in from each edge.
| Platform | Top | Bottom | Left | Right | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Shorts | 288 | 672 | 48 | 192 | Official: Google's vertical video ad safe zone |
| Instagram Reels | 269 | 672 | 65 | 65 | Official: Meta's Reels ad guidance, 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% each side |
| TikTok | 130 | 480 | 60 | 140 | Our estimate. TikTok doesn't publish pixel margins for regular posts |
| LinkedIn (full-screen) | 120 | 400 | 60 | 120 | Our estimate |
| X (full-screen) | 120 | 360 | 60 | 120 | Our estimate |
| All of the above | 288 | 672 | 65 | 192 | The largest margin on each side |
YouTube Shorts
Google publishes a safe-zone diagram for vertical video ads on YouTube at 1080 × 1920, and ads appear in the Shorts feed alongside regular Shorts. Organic Shorts have the title and channel name at the bottom left and the buttons up the right edge, so the same margins work. The clear area is 840 × 960 pixels. More on our YouTube Shorts page.
Instagram Reels
Meta's ad guidance for Reels says to leave at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and other important elements. On a 1080 × 1920 frame that is about 269, 672 and 65 pixels. Organic Reels put the caption, username and buttons in the same places. The clear area is about 950 × 979 pixels. More on our Instagram Reels page.
TikTok
TikTok doesn't publish pixel safe zones for regular posts. Its ads help says the safe zone for ads depends on the video's dimensions and on caption length, and offers downloadable safe-zone files instead of a single number. Our margins above are conservative estimates measured from the app. The right-hand button column is wide, and adding a sound or product link adds another line above the caption, so leave extra room at the bottom. More on our TikTok page.
LinkedIn and X
Neither publishes pixel safe zones. Our numbers are estimates for their full-screen vertical players in the mobile apps. In the main feeds, only small player controls sit over the video.
Facebook Reels
Meta doesn't publish a separate organic number for Facebook Reels. We use the Instagram Reels figures above as a working guide, since the full-screen Reels layout is similar. Preview before posting.
How to convert 16:9 to 9:16
A 16:9 frame is wide and short. A 9:16 frame is narrow and tall. You can't keep all of the first inside the second at full size, so you choose what to give up. There are four main methods.
| Method | What it does | Keeps | Loses | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crop | Cuts a fixed 9:16 window out of the frame | Full-screen picture | About two thirds of the width | One person who stays in one place |
| Reframe | Moves the 9:16 window to follow the speaker | Full-screen picture that follows the action | Anything far from the subject | Speakers who move, interviews, streams |
| Split-screen | Stacks two crops, one above the other | Both people in a two-person shot | The space between them | Podcasts and interviews with two people |
| Letterbox or blur-fill | Shrinks the whole 16:9 frame into the middle | Everything in the frame | Size: the picture fills about a third of the screen | Slides, screen recordings, wide gameplay |
Crop
A static crop takes a 9:16 slice of the frame. From a 1920 × 1080 source, the largest 9:16 window is 608 × 1080 pixels. That is about 32% of the original frame, scaled up about 1.78 times to fill 1080 × 1920, so it looks softer than the source. From a 4K source (3840 × 2160), the window is 1216 × 2160 and no upscaling is needed. If you plan to crop, record in 4K when you can.
The aspect ratio calculator shows the crop window, how much of the frame you keep and the scale factor for any source size.
Reframe
Reframing is a crop that moves. The window follows the speaker's face, or switches to whoever is talking. Done well, the camera path is smooth rather than jumpy, and it holds still when the speaker does. It's the best option when people move around the frame, but it can't show two people who sit far apart at once.
Split-screen
For two people in a wide shot, stack two crops: one person on top, one below. Each half is 1080 × 960 pixels, a 9:8 shape. From a 1920 × 1080 source, each 9:8 window is about 1216 × 1080, so neither half needs upscaling. Both faces stay visible all the time, which suits fast back-and-forth conversations. Our podcast use case shows it in practice.
Letterbox or blur-fill
Scale the whole 16:9 frame to 1080 pixels wide and place it in the middle of the 9:16 canvas. The picture becomes 1080 × 608, about a third of the screen's height. Fill the space above and below with a solid color, a blurred copy of the video, or your captions and title. Nothing is cut, so this works for slides, screen recordings and wide gameplay where the edges matter. See gaming stream clips for gameplay layouts.
Step by step: convert a horizontal video to vertical
1. Decide what must stay in frame
Watch the clip and note what a viewer has to see: one face, two faces, a slide, a game HUD, a product. That choice drives everything else.
2. Pick a method
One still person: crop. A moving person or changing speaker: reframe. Two people talking: split-screen. Content that needs the full width: letterbox or blur-fill. You can mix them in one clip, for example split-screen for a debate and a single reframe when one person tells a long story.
3. Set the frame and export at 1080 × 1920
Position the crop window, or let a reframing tool track the subject. Export at 1080 × 1920. If your source is 4K, you can export a higher resolution, but 1080 × 1920 is the common target.
4. Place captions and text inside the safe area
Keep burned-in captions and on-screen text inside the clear area for your platforms. For every platform at once, that is the 823 × 960 box from the quick answer. Captions often sit just above the bottom margin, which keeps them clear of the username and post caption. The caption generator previews animated captions, and our guide on how to add captions to videos covers placement.
5. Preview on a phone
Check the export on an actual phone, or with a safe-zone overlay. Make sure no face, caption or on-screen hook sits under a button. Check the cover frame too, inside the profile-grid crop.
If you're cutting from your own YouTube uploads, how to turn YouTube videos into Shorts covers YouTube's built-in tool and its limits.
Common mistakes
- Captions in the bottom fifth. That's where the username and post caption sit on every platform. Move them up.
- Text near the right edge. The button column covers it on Shorts and TikTok.
- Center-cropping two people. You get the gap between them. Use split-screen.
- Upscaling a small crop. A 608-pixel-wide crop from 1080p will look soft. Record in 4K or letterbox instead.
- Trusting one guide's numbers. Check the platform's own page, then preview in the app.
The takeaway
Export at 1080 × 1920. Keep anything important inside the clear area for the platforms you post to, or inside 823 × 960 if you post everywhere. When converting from 16:9, pick the method that keeps what the viewer has to see: crop for one still person, reframe for movement, split-screen for two people, letterbox for full-width content.