Safe Area

Safe area

Watch as an animation →

In plain words

Keep text, logos, and faces inside the area where screen edges or platform buttons won't cover them.

When to use it

Every cut with captions, logos, prices, or CTAs, especially 9:16 short-form.

Example videos

Safe Zone Templates and Custom Guide Lines in Premiere Pro CC | For YouTube Shorts & TikTok — Explainer: Learn which areas are covered by phone screen UI and how to make safe guides.
Don't Let Your Vertical Videos Get CUT OFF! Safe Zones for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok — Explainer: See the standards for placing captions so Reels, TikTok, and Shorts buttons don't cover them.
Video Editing Tip: Title Safe Areas — Explainer: Explains the title-safe and action-safe areas for horizontal video.

In AI video, like this

For 16:9, keep text 5% in from the edges (based on the 90% title-safe area in broadcast). For 9:16 Shorts, leave the bottom 20% or so (title and description) and the column of buttons on the right empty, and keep the key content in the center (see Captions / Subtitles Styling). I could not find the numbers for the Shorts safe area in YouTube's official documentation, so check on a real phone screen. In the start-frame prompt, add a sentence that leaves room for text, like "Keep the upper third of the frame calm for a small caption".

One-click prompt

Vertical 9:16 two-shot sequence designed for safe areas: Shot 1, a hiker in a red jacket stands centered on a ridge at sunrise, upper third of the frame calm and empty for a caption, bottom 20 percent of the frame plain ground, 3 seconds; hard cut to Shot 2, close-up of her face, still centered, same layout, 3 seconds.

See it in real films and ads

Wikipedia — Safe area (television))

AI-made examples

Not verified

Recommended for scenes like these

Techniques that pair well

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