Clear CortexYouTube Shorts size: dimensions, length and safe zone
a YouTube Short is a vertical or square video of up to 3 minutes. YouTube's own help page gives the length and the shape, and nothing else: no resolution, no safe zone for organic Shorts. the rest of the numbers come from Google's ads documentation, which does draw a safe zone, and from what every other vertical platform has settled on.
this page is part of the social media specs hub, which has every platform's sizes in one table. checked November 2026.
the short answer
- shape: 9:16 vertical, or 1:1 square. YouTube Help says Shorts need "a square or vertical aspect ratio".
- size: 1080×1920. YouTube does not state a resolution for Shorts; 1080×1920 is the usual export and the frame Google's own safe zone diagram is drawn on.
- length: up to 3 minutes.
- safe zone (ads): keep 288 px clear at the top, 672 px at the bottom, 48 px on the left and 192 px on the right. that leaves an 840×960 px box.
dimensions and aspect ratio
YouTube's Shorts upload page is short on numbers. it says a Short can be up to 3 minutes "with a square or vertical aspect ratio", and stops there. it gives no minimum resolution and no recommended one.
Google's ads help page on square and vertical video goes further: it calls 9:16 "best suited for the Shorts format" and labels its safe zone diagram "Resolution 1080x1920". in practice that is the size to export: it matches TikTok, Reels and Stories, so one vertical master covers all of them.
| shape | export at | how it plays as a Short |
|---|---|---|
| 9:16 vertical | 1080×1920 | full screen; the shape the format is built for |
| 1:1 square | 1080×1080 | allowed, with empty space above and below on a phone |
| 16:9 landscape | 1920×1080 | not a Short; YouTube's page lists only square or vertical |
if the source footage is landscape, reframe it to 9:16 rather than uploading it with bars. a Short that only fills the middle third of the screen is competing against ones that fill all of it.
how long a Short can be
up to 3 minutes, per YouTube Help. that sits between TikTok's ad limit of 10 minutes and the 90 seconds Instagram allows for a boosted reel. a vertical cut of 90 seconds or less fits all three, which is why it is the length we suggest for one edit across platforms. the reasoning, and Instagram's own limits, are in how long an Instagram Reel can be.
the Shorts safe zone
Google publishes one safe zone, in its ads help, for vertical video ads. it asks you to keep logos, products and text inside it "to avoid risk of elements being covered", and adds that overlays, calls to action and buttons can sit in different places depending on the format, the campaign type and the screen. on 1080×1920:
| edge | keep clear | share of the frame | what sits there |
|---|---|---|---|
| top | 288 px | 15% | search, the camera icon, the status bar |
| bottom | 672 px | 35% | channel name, title, sound, the ad's call to action |
| left | 48 px | 4% | device edge |
| right | 192 px | 18% | like, dislike, comment, share, remix |
the right-hand column is the one to watch. 192 px is wider than Meta's 65 px, so a layout built for Reels can lose the end of a right-aligned headline on Shorts.
there is no official safe zone for organic Shorts. the interface is close enough to the ad layout that the ad numbers are the sensible ones to design to, and they protect a Short if it is ever used as an ad.
one file for Shorts, Reels and TikTok
Shorts has the deepest top margin of the three (288 px against TikTok's 240 and Meta's 269) and a wide right margin. TikTok has the widest left margin. take the strictest side from each and the box that is clear everywhere is x 120–780, y 288–1,248 on 1080×1920. the overlaid diagram is in the TikTok safe zones guide, and Meta's side of it is in Instagram safe zones.
the failure that keeps coming up is not a margin but a shape. from a thread about keeping ad creative compliant across networks:
"Then the same master creative needs 6 different aspect ratios and someone always ships a 1:1 where a 9:16 should go"
on Shorts a 1:1 is at least allowed. it is still the weaker file. if you make the video in Clear Cortex, the video studio exports 9:16 and 1:1, so the vertical master and a square fallback can come from one project.
the summary
- 9:16 at 1080×1920, or 1:1. YouTube allows square or vertical and states no resolution.
- up to 3 minutes. 90 seconds or less fits Shorts, Reels boosts and TikTok at once.
- ads safe zone: 288 top, 672 bottom, 48 left, 192 right. no official organic zone; use the ad one.
- one box for every vertical platform: x 120–780, y 288–1,248.
every other platform's sizes are in the social media specs hub.