Meta ads safe zones in 2026: 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides
Meta's pages, placement by placement: one rule for Facebook and Instagram Stories and Reels, the unannounced 2026 Stories change, pixels, feed, carousel.
- Hristijan Jankulovski
- Updated October 28, 2026
- 16 min read
Meta's safe zone for 9:16 Stories and Reels ads is the same on Facebook and Instagram: keep text, logos and other key elements out of the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% of each side. At 1440 × 2560, the size Meta's ads guide recommends, that is 358 px at the top, 896 px at the bottom and 86 px per side; at 1080 × 1920 it is 269, 672 and 65 px. Meta's help article adds a bottom-right column (21% of the width, 40% of the height) and asks for the bottom 40% clear when a Reels ad carries a disclaimer. Feed ads at 4:5 or 1:1, and carousels in feed, have no safe-zone figure on any Meta page.
Two things about that answer are new in 2026. Facebook and Instagram Stories used a different rule until this year, with pixel numbers in it, and Meta moved them onto the Reels numbers page by page without announcing it. And three Stories pages of the guide, plus one help article, still give the old figures today.
Meta's safe zones, placement by placement
This is what each page of Meta's ads guide says:
| Placement | Formats | Safe zone Meta states | Size on the same page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels | image, video | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides | 1440 × 2560 |
| Instagram Stories | image, video, carousel | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides | 1440 × 2560; carousel at least 1080 × 1920 |
| Facebook Reels | image, video, carousel | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides | 1440 × 2560; carousel at least 1080 × 1920 |
| Facebook Stories | image, video | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides | 1440 × 2560 |
| Facebook Stories | carousel | 14% (250 px) top, 20% (340 px) bottom | at least 1080 × 1920 |
| Messenger Stories | image | 14% (250 px) top, 20% (340 px) bottom | at least 1080 × 1080, 9:16 |
| Messenger Stories | video | 14% (250 px) top and bottom | 1080 × 1920 |
| Instagram Reels | carousel | none stated | 9:16, at least 1080 × 1080 |
| Instagram Feed | image, video, carousel | none stated (help pages: video taller than 4:5 uses the Reels rule) | 4:5 image, 9:16 video, 4:5 or 1:1 carousel |
| Facebook Feed | image, video, carousel | none stated | 4:5 image and video, 1:1 carousel |
Our ad specs directory has a spec page for most of these placements, Facebook Reels image and video among them; Facebook Stories video, Messenger Stories and the Stories and Reels carousels aren't there yet.
What are Meta's safe zones for Stories and Reels?
The Instagram Reels image page puts it like this:
Consider leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side of your asset free from text, logos, or other key creative elements to avoid cropping key elements or covering them with the profile icon or call-to-action.
The same numbers, in nearly the same words, are on the Instagram Stories pages (image, video and carousel) and the Facebook Reels pages (image, video and carousel). The Facebook Stories image page says "14% of the top and 35% of the bottom and 6% from each side of the image", and the Facebook Stories video page asks only for the space to be "free from text and logos". The Instagram Reels video page is the one that says "at least 14%" instead of "roughly", and it gives an extra reason: elements "placed too close to the edges of devices with screens taller than a 9:16 aspect ratio."
So the text, logo and product get the middle 51% of the height and 88% of the width. Here is that in pixels, at the two sizes you will actually be working at. Each figure is Meta's percentage times the frame's height (top, bottom) or width (sides), rounded to the nearest pixel:
| Canvas | Top 14% | Bottom 35% | Each side 6% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1440 × 2560 | 358 px (358.4) | 896 px | 86 px (86.4) |
| 1080 × 1920 | 269 px (268.8) | 672 px | 65 px (64.8) |
Why two rows: the ads guide recommends 1440 × 2560 for Stories and Reels (we covered that in the Reels ad size post), but Meta's help article on Instagram Stories design still recommends 1080 × 1920, and the Stories carousel pages and the Facebook Reels carousel page set "At least 1080 x 1920 pixels". Both are 9:16, so the percentages hold at either size. The pixels do not carry over. The Instagram Reels carousel page is the odd one out: 9:16 cards at "At least 1080 x 1080 pixels".
The placement pages with the rule worked out at each size: Instagram Stories image, Instagram Stories video, Instagram Reels image, Instagram Reels video and Facebook Stories.
Is the safe zone different on Facebook and Instagram?
Not for Stories and Reels. The Facebook pages and the Instagram pages state the same 14%, 35% and 6%, and Meta's help article states one rule for both:
For ads with a 9:16 aspect ratio in Stories, Reels, Feed and Facebook in-stream reels, keep the edges (top, bottom and sides) free of key creative elements, text and logos.
The exceptions are three pages that still carry an older rule. The Facebook Stories carousel page and the Messenger Stories image page say:
Consider leaving roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and 20% (340 pixels) of the bottom of the image free from text, logos, or other key creative elements
(the carousel page's version ends "free from text and logos"). The Messenger Stories video page says "Leave roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and bottom of the video free from text and logos." None of the three mentions the sides.
Meta's help center disagrees with the ads guide here too. Its article on creative best practices for Stories, in a tip about the call-to-action sticker Instagram places at the bottom of Stories ads, says to:
leave roughly 14% of the top and 20% of the bottom of your creative free from text, logos and other key creative elements to prevent the sticker from covering them.
The ads guide's Instagram Stories pages say 35% for the bottom. Both pages are live, and the tip links to the ads guide's specs for Instagram Stories in the same sentence that gives 20%. The 35% is the larger margin, so a creative built to it satisfies both. The same tip adds that you can move the sticker's default position for 9:16 ads in Ads Manager.
One more page repeats the 14/35/6 sentence where it is hard to apply: "Ads on Facebook Reels", a 1:1 image shown as a banner or sticker over someone else's reel. The same page also says that "due to the small image size, we recommend that you don't add text on images", which is the instruction to follow.
Do feed and carousel ads have a safe zone?
Feed: no figure anywhere. The ads guide pages for Facebook Feed image, Facebook Feed video, Instagram Feed image and Instagram Feed video state no safe zone. The help article has one sentence, for Instagram only, and no number in it:
For Instagram Feed ads using non-9:16 aspect ratios (such as 1:1 or 4:5) keep the bottom and side edges free of key creative elements, text and logos.
There is one exception. Meta's guide gives Instagram Feed video as 9:16 at 1080 × 1920, and its page says nothing about safe zones. The help article does: "9:16 video ads in Instagram Feed use the same safe zone guidance as Reels and Stories." Meta's best practices for Instagram video ads widens that to any tall video, and gives the reason:
As of late 2024, tall video ads (>4:5) in feed are no longer cropped and now match the organic video format, with headers overlaid on top. For tall videos, use the Reels safe zone to ensure key content isn't obscured.
So a vertical Instagram feed video keeps the top 269 px, the bottom 672 px and 65 px a side clear at 1080 × 1920. The rest of what Meta's pages say about video, from length to sound, is in Meta video ad best practices.
Carousel: it depends where the carousel runs.
| Carousel placement | Safe zone on Meta's page |
|---|---|
| Instagram Feed | none stated (4:5, or 1:1 once any card is a video) |
| Facebook Feed | none stated (1:1) |
| Instagram Stories | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides |
| Facebook Reels | 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% sides |
| Instagram Reels | none stated, though the format is 9:16 |
| Facebook Stories | 14% (250 px) top, 20% (340 px) bottom |
So if you searched "Instagram carousel safe zone": the feed carousel has no number, the Stories carousel uses 14/35/6, and the Reels carousel page is silent. Use 14/35/6 there too: the help article's 9:16 rule and its diagram cover Reels.
Did Meta change its safe zones in 2026?
Yes, for Stories, with no announcement. Instagram Reels has said 14/35/6 since at least October 2024 (an Internet Archive copy of the Instagram Reels image page from 9 October 2024 has the same numbers). Stories said something else. This is the Instagram Stories image page as archived on 14 November 2025:
Consider leaving roughly 14% (250 pixels) of the top and 20% (340 pixels) of the bottom of the image free from text, logos, or other key creative elements to avoid covering them with the profile icon or call-to-action.
Then the Stories pages switched to the Reels numbers, one at a time:
| Meta ads guide page | Copy still on the older rule | First copy showing 14% / 35% / 6% |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Stories, image | 14 November 2025 | 29 August 2026 |
| Facebook Stories, image | 4 January 2026 | 29 August 2026 |
| Instagram Stories, video | 5 May 2026 | 29 August 2026 |
| Facebook Stories, video | 23 September 2026 | 16 October 2026 (the live page) |
| Facebook Stories, carousel | 16 October 2026 (the live page) | not yet |
| Messenger Stories, image and video | 16 October 2026 (the live pages) | not yet |
The dates are those of archived copies, not the day Meta made each change. No Meta page states that day, and Meta hasn't announced the change.
In practice: if you built your Stories templates on the old rule, the bottom band is now 15 points of the height deeper (384 px at 1440 × 2560), and there are side margins where the old rule had none: 6% a side, or 86 px at 1440 wide.
A "March 2026" date for this circulates. One guide, last updated in June 2026, says "Starting March 2026, Stories and Reels now share a single unified safe zone." The direction is right: Facebook and Instagram Stories now state the Reels numbers. The date isn't supported by Meta's pages. The English Instagram Stories video page still showed 14% and 20% in a copy archived on 5 May 2026, and the Facebook Stories video page was still on the old rule on 23 September. Nor is the change finished: three Stories pages in the guide have not moved, and Meta's Stories best-practices article still gives 20% for the bottom.
Why does every guide's pixel number disagree?
Look up the Stories and Reels safe zone and you get pixel numbers: 250 px at the bottom, 150 px at the top, sometimes 160. No two guides agree, and none of those figures matches what Meta asks for now.
Part of the explanation is that Meta printed pixel numbers itself. "14% (250 pixels)" is Meta's wording, from the old Stories rule, and it is still live on the Messenger Stories and Facebook Stories carousel pages. But on Meta's page 250 px is the top margin, not the bottom. And the pixel numbers don't match the percentages printed next to them, at either canvas Meta names:
| Canvas | 14% of the height | Meta's "250 pixels" is | 20% of the height | Meta's "340 pixels" is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080 × 1920 | 269 px | 13.0% | 384 px | 17.7% |
| 1440 × 2560 | 358 px | 9.8% | 512 px | 13.3% |
The Instagram Stories image page that carried "14% (250 pixels)" listed its recommended resolution as 1440 × 2560 in the same block. At that size, "250 pixels" is under 10% of the height.
That is what a pixel-shaped summary of a percentage-shaped rule does. It is right at exactly one canvas, and here it was not right even at that one. Then the percentage itself changed, and every copied pixel figure was out of date at once. A template built in percentages would have needed one edit, to the bottom band.
(An earlier version said in September that Meta publishes no pixel figure. That held for the Reels and Instagram Stories pages, not for the guide as a whole. The Messenger Stories pages carry one today, and Facebook Stories video did until at least 23 September.)
What Meta's help article adds
Meta's help article on text overlays and the safe zone puts its safe-zone percentages in a diagram, an image. The article's text holds only one number, the 40% for disclaimers.
The diagram, labeled as showing "safe zones for text overlays in Reels and Stories ads", marks 6% on each side, 14% at the top and 35% at the bottom. It also marks a column down the right-hand 21% of the frame where the clear area at the bottom rises to 40%. The article's text does not explain that column, and no ads guide page mentions it. In pixels it is 302 px wide and 1024 px tall at 1440 × 2560, or 227 × 768 px at 1080 × 1920.
The text adds three things:
- Disclaimers on Reels: "If you're including disclaimers on your Reels ads, you should leave the bottom 40% of your ad free from text, logos and other key creative elements."
- Taller screens: "On devices with screens that are taller than the 9:16 aspect ratio, we may either zoom the creative to better fill the whole screen (which can crop areas outside the safe zone), or show the creative in its original 9:16 aspect ratio and use a black background to fill any extra space." That is what the safe zone is protecting against, along with the interface.
- A checker in Ads Manager: "you can toggle on the Safe zone guardrail to see where the safe zone is located. The safe zone is the area inside the yellow overlay that appears on your creative."
What to design to
- One 9:16 template for every vertical placement: top 14%, bottom 35%, 6% a side, plus the bottom-right column from Meta's diagram (21% of the width, 40% of the height). Every margin in it is at least as large as the older 14% / 20% rule and Messenger's 14% top and bottom, so one template covers all of Meta's vertical placements.
- Reels with a disclaimer: move the bottom band to 40%.
- Feed at 4:5 or 1:1: Meta gives no number, only "keep the bottom and side edges" clear on Instagram. Any pixel figure you see for feed was not taken from a Meta page. Our Meta ad sizes post covers the feed sizes themselves.
- Work in percentages, convert at your canvas. The rule is stated as percentages because it has to hold at 1080 × 1920 and 1440 × 2560 alike. To see the bands on your own file, drop it into the free safe zone checker, which draws them at your file's width and height.
- Check the placement before you publish. Turn on the Safe zone guardrail and look at each placement's preview, because Meta has changed these pages this year and may again. TikTok does this differently again: it ships safe-zone templates rather than one figure.
Sources
The ads guide and help center pages carry no publication or update date.
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Instagram Reels — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: video ads on Instagram Reels — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Instagram Stories and video — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: carousel ads on Instagram Stories — Meta (accessed October 28, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Facebook Stories and video — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: carousel ads on Facebook Stories — Meta (accessed October 28, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Facebook Reels and video — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: carousel ads on Facebook Reels — Meta (accessed October 28, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Ads on Facebook Reels — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: carousel ads on Instagram Reels — Meta (accessed October 28, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Messenger Stories and video — Meta (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Meta Ads Guide feed pages: Facebook Feed image, video and carousel; Instagram Feed image, video and carousel — Meta Ads Guide (accessed October 16, 2026)
- About text overlays and the safe zone for ads on Facebook and Instagram — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Design requirements for Instagram Stories ads — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Creative best practices for Stories — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 16, 2026)
- Best practices for Instagram video ads — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 16, 2026)
Archived copies of Meta's pages, from the Internet Archive:
- Instagram Reels image page, archived 9 October 2024 — Meta Ads Guide
- Instagram Stories image page, archived 14 November 2025 — Meta Ads Guide
- Facebook Stories image page, archived 4 January 2026 — Meta Ads Guide
- Instagram Stories video page, archived 5 May 2026 — Meta Ads Guide
- Instagram Stories image, Facebook Stories image and Instagram Stories video — Meta Ads Guide
- Facebook Stories video page, archived 23 September 2026 — Meta Ads Guide
Every figure above comes from a Meta page, live or archived. Meta revises these pages without notice, so check the live page before you rely on a figure here.
Terrads shows the 14% / 35% / 6% margins from Meta's ads guide over each vertical ad before you download it, and on image ads can move the headline, logo and product inside it in one edit.