Where to Put Captions on Vertical Videos (Safe Zones Explained)

You've written perfect captions and chosen a great style. Then you upload the video and half the words are hidden behind the like button. Placement is one of the most overlooked parts of captioning, and one of the easiest to get right.

What is a "safe zone"?

Every short-video app draws its own interface on top of your video:

• Right side: a vertical column of buttons (like, comment, share, save, profile).
• Bottom: your username, the post description, sound or music info, and sometimes a progress bar.
• Top: tabs, a search icon, or a "Following / For You" switch, depending on the app.

The safe zone is the area of the frame that isn't covered by any of these. Anything important, including captions, faces and on-screen text, should stay inside it.

The exact layout differs between apps and changes from time to time, so don't memorize pixel values. Instead, follow a few principles that hold across platforms.

The general rules

1. Stay out of the bottom fifth

The bottom 15–20% of a vertical video is almost always covered by text on TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Traditional subtitles sit at the very bottom, which is the worst place on these apps.

2. Keep a margin on the right

The button column usually takes up a strip along the right edge, roughly in the lower two-thirds of the screen. Keeping captions centered with some side margin avoids it.

3. Leave the top alone

The top 10% or so may hold app navigation. It's also far from where viewers look, so captions there feel disconnected.

4. The sweet spot: just below the middle

For most talking videos, the best place is around 60–70% of the way down the frame. That's below the speaker's face but above the bottom overlay. Captions there sit close to where viewers' eyes already are, so they can watch you and read at the same time.

Adjusting for your video

These are starting points, not laws. Look at your actual footage:

• Face low in the frame? Move captions higher, above the head, or into empty space.
• Product demo or hands-on tutorial? Place captions away from the area where the action happens.
• Text or graphics already on screen? Make sure captions don't overlap them.
• Horizontal (16:9) video? The classic bottom-center position works on YouTube's standard player, but if the clip will also be posted as a Short, check how it looks there.

In the Vixo editor, hover over the preview and drag the captions up or down. The position slider in the Style panel does the same thing. Play through the video once to make sure the text never covers anything important.

Line length matters for placement too

Long lines wrap to two or three rows and grow taller, pushing toward the danger zones. If your captions keep touching the bottom overlay, try:

• reducing the words per line to 2–4,
• lowering the font size slightly, or
• choosing a condensed font, which fits more letters into the same width.

Quick checklist before you export

1. Play the video at least once in the preview.
2. Check that no caption covers the speaker's mouth or eyes.
3. Make sure captions are above the bottom 20% of the frame.
4. Confirm long lines don't drift into the right edge.
5. After uploading, watch it once in the app itself, because that's the real test.

Good placement is invisible. Viewers won't notice it, but they will notice when captions are hidden.