Updated October 2026

YouTube Shorts safe zone

YouTube's own vertical ad image uses 288 px at the top, 672 at the bottom, 48 on the left, and 192 on the right of a 1080×1920 frame. The right side is the fat one, because Shorts puts the action buttons there. That image is an ads spec. The organic player is not guaranteed to match it.

CheckSafe.Zone and similar tools publish 380 px top and bottom instead. Measured mode draws those two edges and leaves the sides at zero rather than inventing a number the source did not give.

Drop a clip

MP4, MOV, WebM, or a thumbnail. Duration, resolution, aspect, fps, codec, and file size are read here. Nothing is uploaded.

What to do with it

A Short has to be square or vertical. A 16:9 export under 3 minutes is a regular video, not a Short.
The length cap for the Shorts shelf is 3 minutes for uploads on or after 15 October 2024.
Over 1 minute, any Content ID claim blocks the Short globally. That is a warning on the card, not a length failure.
720×1280 is the ads minimum. 1080×1920 is the size to export.

YouTube Shorts specs

A Short is square or vertical and at most 3 minutes. Google's ad safe zone (288 / 672 / 48 / 192) is stricter than most organic templates.

Check	Value	If missed	Confidence	Verified	Source
Shorts length	3 min	fail	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Content ID window	1 min	warn	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Square or vertical	square or taller	fail	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Recommended aspect	9:16	warn	Cited	2026-10-19	Google Ads — vertical video specs
Minimum vertical frame	720×1280	fail	Official	2026-10-19	Google Ads — vertical video specs
Recommended frame	1080×1920	warn	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Upload size	256 GB	fail	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Video codec	H.264, HEVC, VP8, VP9, AV1	warn	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts
Container	MP4, WebM, or MOV	warn	Official	2026-10-19	YouTube Help — Shorts

Official safe zone, 1080×1920

288 top / 672 bottom / 48 left / 192 right

Taken from Google's vertical ad safe-zone image, also cited by https://www.socialync.io/tools/safe-zones. These margins are for ads. The organic Shorts player is not the same picture.

Cited · 2026-10-19 · Google Ads — vertical video specs

Measured safe zone, 1080×1920

380 top / 380 bottom / 0 left / 0 right

CheckSafe.Zone lists Shorts top and bottom at 380 px, which disagrees with Google's 288 / 672 ad image. Side insets were not recorded from that page, so measured mode does not invent them.

Measured · 2026-10-19 · CheckSafe.Zone

Questions

What is the YouTube Shorts safe zone in 2026?

Official mode: 288 top, 672 bottom, 48 left, 192 right, from Google's vertical ad safe-zone image (support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13547298), verified 19 October 2026. Measured mode: 380 top and 380 bottom, from CheckSafe.Zone, with sides unset.

How long can a Short be?

Up to 3 minutes if it is square or taller. There is no published minimum in the rules file.

Does 24 fps fail Shorts?

Not in these rules. YouTube accepts a wide range of frame rates. Instagram is the platform that fails under 30 fps.