Instagram Story and Reel Safe Zone (2026)

The Instagram safe zone in pixels

Instagram draws its own interface over every Reel and Story: your profile name and photo at the top, the caption, audio and reply bar at the bottom, and the like, comment and share buttons at the lower right. Anything you place under those elements can be hidden or hard to read. Meta's current guidance for Reels and Stories gives one set of margins for the 1080 × 1920 frame:

Area	Share of frame	Pixels on 1080 × 1920	What covers it
Top margin	14%	269 px	Profile name and photo, progress bar (Stories)
Bottom margin	35%	672 px	Caption, audio label, reply bar (Stories)
Each side	6%	65 px	Screen edge; the like, comment and share buttons sit at the lower right
Safe area	-	950 × 979 px	Free for text, logos, faces and key elements

The numbers check out: 1080 − 65 − 65 = 950 px wide, and 1920 − 269 − 672 = 979 px tall. Backgrounds, video and photos can still run edge to edge. The margins only apply to things the viewer must be able to see or read.

Free Instagram safe zone template (PNG)

The image below marks all three margins and the safe area on a 1080 × 1920 frame. Below it is a download link for the same guide as a transparent PNG overlay that you can drop on top of your own design. To be clear about what it is: this is a technical template that shows where the zones are, not an editable Canva layout with ready-made designs. If you search for an Instagram story template or Instagram reels template to get pre-built layouts, this overlay is what you use to check them.

Reels vs Stories: is the safe zone different?

For design purposes, no. Both use a 1080 × 1920 px frame at 9:16, and Meta's guidance covers them together, so one template serves both. The interface differs a little: Reels put the like, comment and share buttons at the lower right, while Stories put a reply bar along the bottom. Keep text away from that lower-right corner; designing to the single rule above keeps you clear in either format.

Instagram can change its interface at any time, so treat the pixel values as Meta's guidance rather than a fixed measurement of every phone. If you run ads with a disclaimer, Meta says to leave the bottom 40% (768 px) clear instead.

Want to save a Reel that's already posted? Use download Instagram Reels. This page is about designing new ones.

Reel cover size and the 3:4 profile grid

Make your Reel cover 1080 × 1920 px, the same as the Reel itself. On your profile, the grid previews Reels at 3:4, which shows only the centre 1080 × 1440 px of that cover. Instagram cuts 240 px from the top and 240 px from the bottom.

So a cover title has to survive two crops: it must sit inside the centre 3:4 area for the grid, and inside the safe area for the Reel itself. The safe area runs from 269 px down to 1248 px from the top (1920 − 672), which sits fully inside the grid's 240 to 1680 px window. A title that respects the safe zone is therefore also safe in the grid.

Designing a consistent look across your profile? The grid maker splits an image into tiles that line up on the 3:4 grid, and the highlight cover maker does the same job for your Highlight circles.

The old 250 px rule vs the current rule

Many older Stories guides still tell you to keep 250 px free at the top and bottom of the frame. That leaves about 1080 × 1420 px of usable space. Newer guides quote the 14% / 35% / 6% figures, which is why the numbers you find online do not agree.

They are not in conflict. The old rule asked for 250 px at the top and bottom; the current rule asks for 269 px at the top, 672 px at the bottom, and 65 px at each side. Every margin in the current rule is at least as large as its old equivalent, so a design that follows the current rule also satisfies the old one. Design to 14% / 35% / 6% and you can ignore the 250 px figure.

How to check your design against the safe zone

1. Download the overlay: Save the transparent 1080 × 1920 PNG safe zone template from this page.

2. Open a 1080 × 1920 canvas: Create a 1080 × 1920 px (9:16) design in Canva, Figma, Photoshop or any editor, then place the overlay on the top layer.

3. Keep key elements inside the safe area: Move text, logos, faces and calls to action into the 950 × 979 px safe area, away from the marked top, bottom and side zones.

4. Hide the overlay and export: Turn the overlay layer off, export the design as a 1080 × 1920 PNG or JPEG, and upload it as a Reel cover, Story or Reel.

Starting from a photo that is not 9:16? Use the Instagram post size resizer first. Its Story / Reel preset crops or fits your photo to exactly 1080 × 1920 px and has an optional guide that shows roughly where Instagram's interface sits. Nothing is uploaded; it runs in your browser.