Guide
TikTok Video Width and Height: How to Size Videos and Keep Text in the Safe Zone
A TikTok video should be 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels high, a 9:16 vertical frame that fills a phone screen. TikTok's own pages state the shape rather than one size: its ads help center recommends "9:16, more than or equal to 540*960px" (In-Feed Ads specs), and its creative best practices say to shoot "at least 720P", both as of October 2026. 1080 by 1920 is that same 9:16 frame at full HD, which is what most phones record and what video editors offer as their vertical preset.
The size is the easy part. The harder part is where to put text, because TikTok draws its own buttons, caption and tabs over your video. This guide covers both.
Contents
- TikTok video size at a glance
- What TikTok itself says
- Why 1080 by 1920
- The TikTok safe zone
- Where to put text on a TikTok video
- Horizontal and square videos on TikTok
- Length and file size
- Photo posts and slideshows
- FAQ
- Recap
TikTok video size at a glance
| Setting | Use | Where it comes from | |---|---|---| | Aspect ratio | 9:16, vertical | TikTok's ads specs and best practices | | Resolution | 1080 × 1920 px | 9:16 at full HD; TikTok states at least 540 × 960 (ads) and at least 720p | | Frame rate | 30 fps | Any rate from 23 to 60 is accepted by TikTok's posting API | | Format | MP4 | TikTok's API recommends MP4 and also takes WebM and MOV | | Text | Middle of the frame, clear of the right edge and the bottom | See the safe zone |
What TikTok itself says
TikTok has no single page of specs for ordinary videos. These are the statements it does make, as of October 2026:
- Ads help center, In-Feed Ads: "Vertical (recommended): 9:16, more than or equal to 540*960px." Horizontal 16:9 at 960 × 540 or more and square 1:1 at 640 × 640 or more are also accepted.
- Ads help center, creative best practices: "orienting vertically at 9:16, shooting at least 720P resolution, and keeping your content visible within the UI safe zone".
- Developer docs, media transfer guide: width and height each at least 360 pixels and at most 4096; 23 to 60 frames per second; MP4 recommended, WebM and MOV accepted; up to 4 GB.
The ads pages are written for advertisers, but the screen an ad plays on is the same For You screen your video plays on, so the same frame applies.
Blogs repeat other numbers as TikTok's: upload size limits per phone, pixel margins for the safe zone. TikTok's help pages publish neither.
Why 1080 by 1920
- It fills the screen. 9:16 is the shape of the For You feed. A video in that shape plays edge to edge with no bars.
- It is sharp without waste. TikTok asks for at least 720p. 1080 wide is the full HD width phones record at, so it is sharper than the minimum, and pixels beyond it add file size more than they add detail on a phone.
- Everything already speaks it. Phones record it, editors export it, and templates are built for it, so text you place in one tool lands in the same spot in the next.
If you record on a phone in portrait, you are already at 9:16. Check the export settings in your editor: a vertical project at 1080 × 1920 and 30 frames per second is the setting to pick.
Postjam renders every video and slideshow at 1080 × 1920, video at 30 frames per second, so nothing it makes needs resizing for TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
The TikTok safe zone
The safe zone is the part of the frame TikTok's interface does not cover. On the For You screen, four things sit on top of your video:
- The top bar: the Following and For You tabs, and the search button.
- The right column: the profile picture, like, comment, save and share buttons, and the spinning sound disc.
- The bottom block: your username, the caption, and the sound name.
- The bottom navigation: Home, Friends, the post button, Inbox and Profile.
TikTok's ads help center says the safe zone's size depends on the video's shape and the length of the caption, and offers downloadable safe zone files rather than one set of numbers. The longer the caption, the taller the bottom block gets, and the smaller the safe zone.
Where to put text on a TikTok video
- Hooks in the upper middle. About a third of the way down, centered, is clear of the tabs above and the caption below, and it is where the eye lands first. Postjam places hook text there by default, a block 68% of the frame's width centered 30% of the way down.
- Nothing important on the right edge. The buttons cover it from about the middle of the frame down.
- Nothing important in the bottom fifth. The caption covers it, and a long caption covers more.
- Leave margins at the sides. Text that touches the edges is harder to read and runs into the buttons.
- Make it readable at a glance. White letters with a dark outline read on any footage. TikTok Text Overlay Generator makes that look at 1080 × 1920 if you are building slides by hand.
Before you post, preview the video in TikTok's editor with your real caption. That shows exactly what the interface covers on your video.
Horizontal and square videos on TikTok
TikTok plays them, with bars. A 16:9 video sits in a strip across the middle of a 9:16 screen, with the rest of the screen empty. TikTok's ads specs accept 16:9 and 1:1, but recommend vertical, and the For You feed is built for it.
If you only have horizontal footage, crop it to 9:16 around the subject, or place it inside a vertical frame with text above and below it, rather than posting it as is. A screen recording of a desktop app is the usual case: zoom into the part that matters.
Length and file size
From TikTok's help page on camera tools, as of October 2026, videos recorded in the app can be up to 10 minutes long, and videos uploaded can be up to 60 minutes. TikTok's help center states no file size limit for uploads from the app; its posting API takes files up to 4 GB.
Length you can post and length that works are different questions. Most short-form hooks are decided in the first second or two, and TikTok 200 View Jail covers why the first audience's watch time decides how far a video goes.
Photo posts and slideshows
Photo posts use the same 9:16 screen. TikTok's help page on making a post allows up to 35 photos in one post. Make each slide 1080 × 1920 so it fills the screen, and keep text in the same safe zone, since the caption and buttons cover photos as they cover video. How to Fully Automate Slideshows in Postjam builds slideshows at that size.
FAQ
What is the best resolution for TikTok? 1080 × 1920 pixels. TikTok states 9:16 and at least 720p as of October 2026; 1080 × 1920 is 9:16 at full HD.
What aspect ratio is TikTok? 9:16, vertical. TikTok also plays 16:9 and 1:1, with bars.
What is the TikTok safe zone? The part of the frame the app's buttons, caption and tabs don't cover: roughly the middle of the frame, left of the right edge and above the bottom fifth. TikTok publishes downloadable safe zone files in its ads help center.
Can I upload 4K to TikTok? TikTok's posting API accepts up to 4096 pixels on a side. On a phone screen, 1080 × 1920 shows the same detail at a smaller file.
Is TikTok 1080 × 1920 the same as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts? All three use a 9:16 vertical frame, so a 1080 × 1920 video plays full screen on each. Their buttons sit in different places, so check text placement on each.
Recap
Export TikTok videos at 1080 × 1920, 9:16, 30 frames per second, as MP4. TikTok itself asks for 9:16 and at least 720p. Put hooks in the upper middle of the frame, keep words off the right edge and the bottom fifth, and preview with your real caption before posting.
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