Instagram Safe Zone (2026): Reels and Stories Margins, Template and Overlay

Download the safe zone template (PNG)

The tool gives you a transparent PNG at 1080 × 1920 px with only the guides on it: the three shaded margins and the dashed safe area. Drop it on top of your design in any editor, such as Canva, Figma or Photoshop, as a top layer, and keep your text inside the dashed area. Hide or delete the layer before you export.

Prefer to see it on your own image? Upload it in the tool and download the result as a PNG.

The numbers

Meta's Ads Guide says to leave roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side of a Reels or Stories asset free from text, logos or other key elements. On a 1080 × 1920 px canvas:

The pixel values are our conversion of Meta's percentages (checked on 10 Nov 2026). Meta words the guidance as "consider leaving", so treat it as a strong recommendation, not a hard rule.

What covers your design

Instagram draws its own interface over a Reel or Story:

• Top: your account, the audio, and the back and camera buttons.
• Bottom: the caption, the username, the audio name and, on ads, the call-to-action button.
• Right side: the like, comment, share and more buttons.

Every phone and app version shows these a little differently, so check your first Reel on your own phone. The bottom is the biggest area, which is why Meta's number is so large there. Put the hook in the upper-middle, not at the bottom, and keep the face or product in the middle third.

Reels vs Stories

Reels. Instagram accepts Reels with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, a minimum of 720 px resolution and 30 frames per second (Instagram Help). Use 9:16 at 1080 × 1920 so the video fills the screen.

Stories. Use 9:16 as well. For Stories ads, Meta says photos from 1.91:1 to 4:5 are supported, but a 9:16 asset fills the screen, which is why we recommend it.

For both, use the same margins above. The difference is the caption: Reels often carry a longer caption at the bottom, so keep the bottom area clear.

The Reels cover and your grid

A Reel also has a cover. Instagram recommends a cover of 420 × 654 px, a 1:1.55 ratio (Instagram Help). Put the title in the middle, not near the edges, so it survives however the cover is cropped in the feed and on your profile. Instagram has not published the exact crop of the profile grid that we could find, so check yours in the app.

Common mistakes

• Text in the bottom third. The caption and the call-to-action cover it. This is the number one mistake.
• Hook at the very top. The account name and the audio label sit there.
• Key text on the right edge. The buttons cover it.
• Using a 4:5 feed image as a Reel. It leaves bars. Rebuild it at 9:16.
• Trusting one phone. Different phones show the interface differently. Check on yours.
• Stretching an image. Crop it, don't stretch it.

Turn it into a carousel

A safe zone matters for Reels and Stories. For carousel posts in the feed, the size and margins are different: see the Instagram carousel size guide. To make the carousel itself, SuperCarousels writes the script and designs each slide from your idea, and the editor exports PNG, PDF and video. Create this carousel with AI →