Instagram’s buttons and labels can cover titles, captions, and logos in a Reel. A safe zone is the part of the video frame where buttons and labels do not cover important text or visuals. Reels use a vertical 9:16 frame.
Keep key content near the center, away from the top, bottom, and right edge. For a new narrated explainer or product demo, explainroo is a good fit. Its tall video format is designed to keep text clear of the areas where Instagram and similar apps place buttons.
Where Instagram’s interface covers a Reel
Instagram places a profile and username area near the top. Captions and engagement details sit near the bottom, while buttons such as Like, Comment, and Share run along the right side. Text that runs into these areas becomes harder to read or disappears beneath the interface.
AdsUploader summarizes Meta’s safe-zone recommendation for Stories and Reels ads: leave about 14% of the frame clear at the top and 35% clear at the bottom. Keep about 6% clear on each side.
This recommendation applies specifically to ads. It is less clear how it applies to organic Reels, so use it as a cautious placement guide, not a guaranteed Instagram rule. Leave extra room for the right-side action buttons. Published guides give different measurements for their width, and a title near the edge can overlap them.
Place important content inside the central area
Keep the headline, key labels, logo, and any visual detail viewers must understand in the center of the frame. Put decorative backgrounds and nonessential imagery near the edges if you want to fill the full canvas.
For example, a Reel that explains a three-step process can put its title and numbered steps in the center and leave the bottom clear for Instagram’s caption and engagement details. Keep the logo away from the right edge, where the action buttons appear.
Published guides give different pixel margins, so no third-party template provides a universal measurement. The Verve safe-zone recommendations and other guides set different boundaries. Check the video in Instagram, then move anything that competes with a button or label farther toward the center.
Check how the cover appears in each placement. Instagram can crop a Reel cover differently in different placements, and published recommendations disagree about the safest central crop. Keep the cover title and subject near the middle instead of relying on one exact crop.
Make a safe-zone Reel with explainroo
explainroo is a free, open-source kit for coding agents to create narrated explainer videos and product demos. Its tall format is designed for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, with text kept clear of the areas where those apps place buttons. It works best for creating a video from a description, not for adjusting existing camera footage.
To create a Reel, open a coding agent that runs shell commands. Claude Code and Codex are options, as are Pi, OpenCode, and Gemini CLI. Paste this prompt and replace the bracketed topic:
Make me a short explainer video about [your topic]. Use explainroo for it: clone https://github.com/vincentsch/explainroo, read its AGENTS.md and follow the steps.Tell the agent the video is for Instagram Reels and that titles, labels, and logos should stay well inside the central safe area. The agent sets up explainroo, creates and checks the video, then provides an MP4 file.
The agent writes script.md with the narration and scenes.js with descriptions of how to draw each scene. explainroo renders the scenes and checks for text cut off by the frame or overlapping other elements. Review the scene stills and contact sheet. Ask the agent to move any text that sits too close to interface elements.
