RatioSlateOverlay guide
YouTube Shorts safe zone
Leave room on a Shorts frame for the right-hand actions and the title and channel row at the bottom.
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Direct answer
What the amber bands mean
YouTube Shorts plays in a vertical 9:16 frame. The working export in this tool is 1080 × 1920. YouTube publishes vertical safe-zone guidance because the action rail and the metadata row are part of the player, not part of your design. The amber bands are RatioSlate’s conservative preview of that problem. They are not a pixel-perfect copy of the current player.
Quick reference
| Canvas | 1080 × 1920 |
|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 |
| Top inset | 8% of frame height |
| Right inset | 15% of frame width |
| Bottom inset | 19% of frame height |
| Left inset | 4% of frame width |
| Status | RatioSlate working guide, not an official spec |
Safe-zone source and method
Conservative guide based on YouTube vertical UI and official vertical-video safe-zone guidance. Shorts controls can change.
Google Ads Help — YouTube video specs and safe zonesThe overlay on this page
This page's RatioSlate overlay guide reserves 8% at the top, 15% on the right, 19% at the bottom, and 4% on the left. Those four numbers are top, right, bottom, and left insets. They are a working preview guide, not a published official specification.
Platform controls move. App version, phone size, account state, ads, and interface experiments all change what covers the frame. Treat the amber bands as a conservative check, then confirm the final frame in the app before you publish.
Conservative guide based on YouTube vertical UI and official vertical-video safe-zone guidance. Shorts controls can change.
Player chrome this guide is watching
Shorts puts like, dislike, comment, share, and remix controls in a rail on the right. The bottom of the player belongs to the title, the channel, and the subscribe affordance. A subtitle burned into that lower band collides with metadata you do not control. The top inset is a thinner reservation for search and camera controls. The left side is the most usable edge, which is why its inset is the smallest.
Our Shorts right inset is slightly tighter than our TikTok guide, and the bottom inset is slightly shallower. That is a difference in this tool’s working guides, based on how those players have tended to lay out. It is not a claim that YouTube promised those percentages. If you publish the same still to TikTok and Shorts, check both guides. One clear center is not automatically clear in the other player.
How to use the tool
Use the diagram on an empty canvas first so the four bands are obvious. Then open the image, set the focus point, and keep titles inside the clear area. The Shorts guide is selected when you arrive. Switching to TikTok or Reels changes the bands immediately, which is the comparison worth making before a multi-platform export.
Export 1080 × 1920 when the composition holds. The file is a normal image. YouTube’s upload preview remains the last check, because subscribed state, title length, and player experiments move the real controls.
Same canvas, different guide
TikTok, Reels, and Shorts exports in RatioSlate are all 1080 × 1920, which is 9:16. The overlay insets are not the same. Switch guides when you switch apps, including from the links on this page. The 9:16 page explains the proportion at other sizes. The 1080 × 1920 page explains this pixel grid without pretending the three interfaces are identical.
Examples
No file yet
The empty frame on this page already draws the overlay. Amber is the area to treat as unsafe. The label in the clear center marks the working safe area.
With your image
Open a JPG, PNG, or WebP. Put the focus point on the subject, keep type inside the clear center, and export the 1080 × 1920 frame. The download does not include the amber bands.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn’t this guide match the TikTok percentages?
The players don’t cover the frame in the same way. Shorts emphasizes the right rail and the lower title row. TikTok’s guide reserves more of the right and bottom. Each page uses its own insets.
Will the download show the amber bands?
No. The bands are a preview. The Shorts export is the cropped image at the preset size.
Are these insets an official platform standard?
No. 8% top, 15% right, 19% bottom, and 4% left are the RatioSlate overlay guide for this page. App version, device, and account state can move the real interface. Verify in the app.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
No. Image decoding, reframing, and export happen locally in your browser. The site does not receive your image file.
Which image formats can I use?
You can open JPG, PNG, and WebP images, then export JPG, PNG, or WebP files in supported browsers.