Why safe zones matter for vertical video
Short-form apps lay their interface over your video. Profile and search bars sit at the top, the caption, music line and progress bar cover the bottom, and a column of like, comment, share and follow buttons runs up the right edge. Text, faces or logos that land under those elements are hard to read or hidden completely, which hurts hooks, subtitles and calls to action.
What this previewer shows
Upload a vertical image, a video frame or a thumbnail, pick TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, and the previewer draws the platform's approximate overlay areas in red on top of it. A dashed box marks the central area where important content is safest. You can also show simple placeholders for the app buttons and caption lines, then download the annotated image to share with an editor or client.
Practical layout tips
- Keep subtitles inside the dashed box, a little above the caption area, not at the very bottom.
- Place the hook text in the upper-middle of the frame rather than the top edge.
- Leave the right rail clear of faces, product shots and logos.
- Export vertical at 1080 by 1920 so the preview matches what you publish.
How accurate is it?
The zones are approximations based on how these apps commonly appear on modern phones. Screen sizes, regional layouts, ads and app updates change the exact positions, and the apps do not publish pixel-exact specifications. Treat the red areas as a warning and leave extra margin, then check the real post on a phone before promoting it. The image stays in your browser and is not uploaded.