Instagram Story and Reels Safe Zones (2026): The Exact Margins
Meta unified its 9:16 safe zones in March 2026 and switched from fixed pixels to percentages - most guides still quote the old numbers. The current margins for Stories and Reels, why Reels leaves you barely half the frame, and how to check your own video.
The short answer
On a 1080 × 1920 frame, keep anything that must be read inside 950 × 1267 for Stories and 950 × 979 for Reels. Same margins at the top and sides; the difference is entirely at the bottom, where Reels reserves nearly twice as much room.
In March 2026 Meta consolidated Facebook Stories, Facebook Reels, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels into a single unified 9:16 safe zone, built around the tightest placement. It also stopped publishing fixed pixel counts and switched to percentages, so the margins scale correctly on every screen.
That is why so much of the advice you will find is wrong now. Guides quoting "250px top and bottom" for Stories, or "108 / 320 / 60 / 120" for Reels, are describing the pre-March spec. Those numbers were right, and they are no longer the current guidance.
The current margins
| Margin | Percentage | Pixels at 1080 × 1920 |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 14% | 269 px |
| Sides | 6% each | 65 px each |
| Bottom - Stories | 20% | 384 px |
| Bottom - Reels | 35% | 672 px |
Which leaves you:
| Placement | Safe area | Share of the frame |
|---|---|---|
| Stories | 950 × 1267 | 66% of the height |
| Reels | 950 × 979 | 51% of the height |
Same top and side margins, very different bottoms. Reels leaves you barely half the frame height.
The Reels number is the one that surprises people. Just over half the frame height is usable for anything that has to be read, because the caption, audio credit, follow button, and engagement rail all stack up from the bottom. Design a Reel as though the lower third does not exist.
Why Stories and Reels differ
Both are 1080 × 1920 and both are 9:16, so it is tempting to treat them as one format. The interfaces are not the same:
- Stories put a profile bubble, timestamp, and close button across the top, and a reply bar across the bottom. Tall but relatively shallow overlays.
- Reels add a caption that can run two or three lines, the audio attribution strip, the follow button, and the like / comment / share / more rail up the right side. Much deeper at the bottom.
Meta's unified spec resolves this by taking the tightest case, so a single asset designed to the Reels safe zone is safe everywhere - Stories, Reels, Facebook, and Instagram. If you only make one version, make it that one. You give up some of the frame on Stories, and you never have to think about placement again.
Organic posts, not just ads
These specs come from Meta's advertising guidance, but the interface they are protecting against is the same one your organic posts appear in. The overlays do not change because you did not pay for the placement. Treat the numbers as design guidance for everything you publish vertically.
What actually gets clipped
Ranked by how often it happens:
- Burned-in subtitles. The classic failure. Captions sitting 100-200 px from the bottom look perfect in your editor and land squarely behind the Reels caption. Move them up into the middle third.
- Lower thirds and name plates. Same problem, same fix - or move them to the upper middle, which is unusual but always safe.
- End cards and CTAs. A "follow for more" that sits at the bottom of the last second is competing with the actual follow button.
- Logos in corners. All four corners are compromised. Inset a logo to the safe area or place it top-centre.
- Subject framing. Not clipped exactly, but a face centred in the full frame sits low in the safe area. Compose for the safe box, not the canvas.
How to check your own video
Percentages are easy to verify without a template pack, because you only need one still:
- Pull a frame from the busiest moment - wherever text sits lowest or the subject is closest to an edge. The frame grabber steps through frames so you can land on exactly that moment; use the last frame extractor if your end card is the risk, which it usually is.
- Check it against the numbers. At 1080 × 1920, everything that matters should sit between 269 px from the top and 672 px from the bottom, with 65 px clear on each side.
- Or just look at it on your phone. Open the still full screen next to the app. The overlays sit in the same place every time, so a static frame tells you what a test upload would.
Frames come out at full source resolution and nothing is uploaded, so this works on client work and unreleased edits.
For the dimensions themselves - and the equivalent margins on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, which are not covered by Meta's spec - see our guide to social video sizes. If you need to convert between ratios, the aspect ratio calculator gives exact dimensions.
FAQ
What is the Instagram Story safe zone?
14% from the top, 20% from the bottom, and 6% from each side. On a 1080 × 1920 frame that is 269 px top, 384 px bottom, 65 px per side, leaving a safe area of 950 × 1267.
What is the Reels safe zone?
Same 14% top and 6% sides, but 35% from the bottom - 672 px at 1080 × 1920. The safe area is 950 × 979, just over half the frame height.
Are Story and Reels safe zones the same now?
The top and side margins are unified, and the bottom is not. Meta's unified spec is built around Reels as the tightest case, so designing to the Reels safe zone keeps you safe in both.
What size should an Instagram Story be?
1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16. That has not changed - the safe zone is about where you place content inside that frame, not the frame itself.
Do safe zones apply to organic posts or only ads?
Both. The specs are published as ad guidance, but the interface overlaying your content is identical whether or not the post is promoted.
Is there a safe zone template?
You can build one in seconds from the percentages: a 1080 × 1920 canvas with guides at 269 px from the top, 672 px from the bottom, and 65 px from each side covers every Meta placement.
Sources
- Meta Ads Guide - placement specs and creative requirements
- Reporting on the March 2026 unified 9:16 safe zone, including Billo and AdsUploader
Checked August 2026. Meta revises placement specs periodically - confirm against the Ads Guide before a large campaign.