Design3 min read
TikTok Video Size and the Safe Zone That Eats Your Text
TikTok video size is 1080x1920 at 9:16. The harder part is the safe zone - the caption, the action rail and the username cover a third of your frame.
TikTok video size is 1080×1920 pixels — 9:16, full screen, vertical. That part is easy. The part that ruins otherwise good videos is that TikTok draws its own interface over your frame, and roughly a third of the screen is spoken for before your content arrives.
TikTok video size: the frame, and the part you control
| Region | Roughly | What is there |
|---|---|---|
| Top | ~130 px | Search, "Following / For You", occasional banners |
| Right edge | ~200 px wide | Profile, like, comment, bookmark, share, sound disc |
| Bottom | ~300-500 px | Username, caption, music ticker, progress bar |
| Usable centre | The rest | Where your subject and any text has to live |
Those bands vary by device and by app version, and they have grown over time as features were added. That is precisely why designing to the exact numbers is fragile and designing to a generous margin is not.
FreeMentioned in this article
Safe Zone GuideWhere each app’s buttons will cover your frame, in pixels.The safe-zone guide overlays the covered regions on your own frame, per platform, so you can see what is buried rather than estimating.
The rule that follows
Keep text and faces out of the bottom third and away from the right edge. If a caption is long, it expands upward — a two-line caption can reach considerably higher than you planned, and it lands exactly where most creators put their subtitles.
Two habits that fix most of it:
- Put burned-in subtitles in the middle third, not the lower third.
- Leave the right 200 pixels for the action rail, permanently. Treat it as if it were
not part of the canvas.
Export settings that survive TikTok's compression
TikTok re-encodes everything. You cannot avoid that, but you can avoid feeding it a file that compresses badly:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 1080×1920 |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 |
| Frame rate | 30 or 60fps, matched to the source |
| Codec | H.264, MP4 |
| Audio | AAC |
Uploading from a desktop browser generally preserves more quality than exporting from the in-app editor, because the app compresses before upload as well as after.
The cover frame is a still, and it follows still rules
The cover appears in your profile grid and in search results. It is cropped from your 9:16 frame, so a cover with the title at the very bottom loses it in the grid — the same problem Instagram Reels covers have, for the same reason.
FreeMentioned in this article
Social Image ResizerOne image, cropped to every size the networks actually use.When the same video goes to Reels and Shorts
It can, and it should — but the safe zones are not identical, and TikTok's are the most aggressive of the three. Design for TikTok's usable centre and the frame will survive on Reels and Shorts; do it the other way round and text that was clear on YouTube is under a caption on TikTok.
The cross-platform version of this problem is safe zones on social media, and the full ratio reference is social media image sizes.
TikTok's own guidance on video specifications is in their Creator Portal, which is worth checking directly when you are producing at volume.
Caption length is part of the layout
The caption is not separate from the frame — it sits on top of it, and its length decides how much of your video it covers. A caption that runs to three lines is a design decision as much as a copy decision.
FreeMentioned in this article
Social Media Character CounterOne box, every platform’s limit, and exactly where each one cuts you off.See TikTok caption length for where the fold lands.
What is the correct TikTok video size?
1080×1920 pixels, 9:16, MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. Anything else is letterboxed or cropped.
What is the TikTok safe zone?
The area of your 9:16 frame not covered by the interface - roughly excluding the top 130 pixels, the right 200 pixels and the bottom 300 to 500. Keep text and faces inside it.
Why does TikTok make my video look worse?
It re-encodes every upload. Export at 1080×1920 with a sensible bitrate and upload from a browser where possible, rather than letting the app compress twice.
Can I upload a horizontal video to TikTok?
You can, and it appears letterboxed with large empty bands. On a full-screen vertical feed that is a considerable disadvantage.
See exactly what the interface covers on your own frame with the safe-zone guide.
Put it to work
Tools for the job you just read about
Free to run, most of them without an account.
FreePreviews
Safe Zone Guide
Where each app’s buttons will cover your frame, in pixels.
Show safe zones →
FreeImages & video
Social Image Resizer
One image, cropped to every size the networks actually use.
Resize →
FreeContent
Social Media Character Counter
One box, every platform’s limit, and exactly where each one cuts you off.
Count characters →
FreePreviews
Google SERP Snippet Preview
See your title and description as a Google result — on a desktop and a phone.
Preview →5 runs
FreeUtilities
Social Media URL Cleaner
Strip the tracking off a link — and see what each parameter was telling somebody.
Clean →1 runs
FreeAnalytics & growth
Instagram Money Calculator
What to charge for a post — priced the way a brand actually prices it.
Calculate →
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