Safe zones

The idea comes from broadcast, where title safe and action safe margins allowed for televisions that cropped the edges of a signal. Vertical video has the same problem for a different reason: the player draws its own interface over the video, so part of the frame is always occupied by something you do not control.

It matters because captions and key visuals are exactly what gets covered. A subtitle placed at the bottom of the frame can sit under a username, a description, or a progress bar, and a face pushed to the right edge can end up behind the like and share column. Viewers do not adjust, they scroll.

Exact margins are approximate and change with app updates, so treat any specific pixel number as a guideline rather than a spec. A workable habit as of 2026 is keeping essential content clear of roughly the bottom fifth of the frame and the right side column, then checking the real preview in each app before a series goes out.

In production this is a placement decision made once per template: set caption position and subject framing inside the clear area, then reuse it. Preview in the crop tool with the vertical frame visible rather than judging from a horizontal timeline.