Reels ad safe zone in pixels: 358 top, 896 bottom, 86 sides

On a 1440x2560 Reels ad, Meta's Instagram Reels ad guide (read 2026-10-08) says to leave roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free of text, logos and key creative. In pixels that is 358 at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 on each side, which leaves a safe box of 1,267 by 1,306 pixels. Set Sume's caption anchor_ratio inside that box. The page states these figures on its image ad spec; apply the same margins to video at your own judgment.

The pixel math

Top: 0.14 x 2560 = 358.4. Bottom: 0.35 x 2560 = 896. Sides: 0.06 x 1440 = 86.4 each. The free box is 1440 - 2 x 86.4 = 1,267.2 wide and 2560 - 358.4 - 896 = 1,305.6 tall, or about 51% of the frame height. The same percentages on a 1080x1920 file give 269, 672 and 65 pixels, because only the ratios matter.

Placing the caption line

Sume's design.placement.anchor_ratio is the center of the caption line as a fraction of frame height, in the range 0.05 to 0.95. The safe box runs from 0.14 to 0.65 of the height (1 - 0.35). A caption line is about the type size tall, so pick an anchor with room on both sides. 0.40 puts the center at 1,024 of 2,560 pixels, which is 666 pixels below the top margin and 640 above the bottom zone, comfortably inside.

Width works the same way. typography.safe_width_ratio is the fraction of frame width a line may occupy, range 0.3 to 1. The side margins leave 1,267 / 1,440 = 0.88, so a ratio of 0.85 stays inside.

{
  "video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/ad-1440x2560.mp4",
  "style": "slam",
  "design": {
    "placement": { "anchor_ratio": 0.4 },
    "typography": { "safe_width_ratio": 0.85 }
  }
}

Scope and caveats

The Meta page lists the 1440x2560 size, a 30 MB limit and the 14/35/6 margins for a JPG or PNG image ad, with a 44-character primary text limit. A video ad may differ, so read the placement page for your campaign type. The captions API does not take a safe-zone preset; you set the numbers. Caption cost is $0.20 per accepted job for a clip up to 60 seconds, and speech-to-captions needs audible speech.

Using the numbers

The zones are percentages of a 1440x2560 frame: 14% of 2560 is 358 pixels at the top, 35% is 896 at the bottom, and 6% of 1440 is 86 on each side. That leaves a safe box of 1268 by 1306 pixels. Place anything the viewer must read inside it, and treat the rest as space the interface may cover.

For burned-in captions, set anchor_ratio so the line sits inside the safe box, and keep safe_width_ratio below 1 so the text does not run into the side margins. The caption box limits are anchor_ratio 0.05 to 0.95 and safe_width_ratio 0.3 to 1. Check the placement on a still from the finished clip with video frames before you submit the ad.