Instagram Reels – Safe Zone Template
Keep important content within the safe zone with this set of PNG Instagram Reels safe zone overlay templates that you can download and use in your editing software or on a monitor while filming.
One of the templates in action. You can see more of our social media video projects here.
Vertical video is here to stay. We’re a London-based video production company, and delivering video projects in 9:16 alongside other formats has become a routine feature of almost every project we work on. We use these templates during production to make sure important content remains fully visible to the viewer. We hope you find them useful.
Instagram “safe zone” FAQ
What does “safe zone” mean on Instagram?
The Instagram “safe zone” is the area within your video frame where important things – like faces, text, and branding – are always visible and do not become obstructed by Instagram’s UI features.
When you watch a Reel on your phone, Instagram layers parts of their user interface on top of your video. The safe zone refers to the area on screen that is guaranteed to be fully visible to your audience once these have been added, and is where you should be positioning the most important parts of your frame.
How to use the templates
The Instagram Reels safe zone templates are PNG files with transparent backgrounds, so you can just drag and drop them onto your timeline above your footage to use as a framing guide. They will work in any NLE including Davinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.
The templates are very simple. They will show a red rectangle on top of your video so you can see where the safe zone is, making it easy to frame your most important content within that space.
If you use an external monitor while filming that allows you to apply custom overlays, you can also load the templates onto an SD card or hard drive to use on your monitor while shooting. We use them on SmallHD monitors and they work perfectly.
There are three templates:
The template marked EDIT is for 9:16 projects – so 3840x2160 or 1920x1080 and is for use in your editing software.
The two templates marked MONITOR are for use on field monitors while recording. They are formatted for 16:9, but based on the assumption that you have rotated both your camera and monitor 90 degrees to shoot and show 9:16.
The monitor template marked UHD is for use when shooting 16:9 (3840x2160 or 1920x1080).
If you’re filming in RAW, your camera may default to DCI 4K – 4096x2160. In this case, use the monitor template marked 4K. This template is setup with that aspect ratio (1:1.90) in mind. Your delivery aspect ratio for Instagram Reels should still be 9:16, and once you’re editing on a timeline setup for 9:16 you should use the template marked EDIT for all purposes.
IMPORTANT!
Make sure you disable or delete the template overlay in your edit timeline before exporting.
Making the most of the templates
Centre the important parts of your frame: Keep the most important parts of your frame within the safe zone to guarantee their visibility across devices.
Avoid framing too close to the edges: Even within the safe zone, we’d recommend that you avoid putting anything too close to the sides. This is because different device screen sizes will show Reels slightly differently. Keeping things towards the center will help to mitigate the risk of unexpected cropping.
Test your film across different devices: Related to the point above, if you can you should try to check the appearance of your Reel on various devices and screen sizes just to make sure everything is where you want it to be.
Keep captions within the safe zone: If you’re adding captions to your film, keep these in the safe zone so that they don’t get obscured. It’s worth experimenting to find a balance between the placement of your captions and footage.
Make sure you test
Different mobile phones have different screen sizes, so before you publish your content, you should transfer it to a phone and double-check that everything looks right. If you begin the Instagram Reel upload process, you can watch your video as a preview. Alternatively, you can set up a separate Instagram account for testing and make it private – allowing you to see exactly how your content will look once published.
We really recommend this handy Instagram sizes guide from Typetopia, which covers all of the different formats you can post to Instagram (including safe zones). You can save the post for reference later on.
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