TikTok carousel safe zone checker

A TikTok photo carousel is not a video post with pictures in it. It has its own fields, its own dot indicators above the account line, and therefore its own safe zone. Drop your slides in and the preview shows the real layout with your own title on it.

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The dot row is a band a video post does not have

A photo carousel puts its pagination dots in their own centred row directly above the account line. That strip is reserved space, and it is the difference between a TikTok video template and a TikTok photo template. Overlay a video safe zone PNG on a carousel slide and the dots land on whatever you put there.

There is also no slide counter and no arrows. People swipe, and nothing on screen tells them how many slides are left, so the last slide has to do the work of asking for something.

Different fields, wildly different limits

A photo post takes a title capped at 90 characters and a separate description of up to 4,000. A video caption on the same app takes 2,200. So the headline you can put on a carousel is 24 times shorter than the caption you can put on a video, which is the sort of thing you find out at the worst moment.

A carousel holds up to 35 images, the most of any platform here, and it will not accept PNG. JPEG and WebP only. If your slides came out of a design tool as PNGs, they need converting first.

What TikTok does not publish

TikTok documents no canvas, no ratio and no reserved bands for photo carousels specifically. Its safe zone overlays are for in-feed video placements. So even the estimates that exist for TikTok video do not strictly transfer here, because the dot row is extra.

That is the case for looking at your own slides in the real layout. Design at 1080x1920 to match the video canvas, keep the bottom clear of anything you need read, and check the first and last slides hardest.

Before you publish

  • Convert PNG slides before uploading. A photo post takes JPEG and WebP, and PNG is the format design tools export by default.
  • Keep the title under 90 characters. It is a different field from a video caption and far shorter.
  • Leave room above the account line for the dot row. A video safe zone template does not account for it.
  • Put the ask on the last slide. There is no counter and no arrows, so nobody knows they are near the end.

Check another format

Instagram Reels safe zone checkerThe Instagram Reels safe zone is the part of a 1080x1920 frame that Instagram’s interface does not sit on.Open itInstagram Stories safe zone checkerThe Instagram Stories safe zone is the middle of a 1080x1920 frame, between the progress bars and profile row at the top and the reply field at the bottom.Open itTikTok safe zone checkerThe TikTok safe zone is the part of a 9:16 video that the app’s interface does not cover.Open itFacebook Reels safe zone checkerEvery video you post to a Facebook Page is a Reel, whatever length or shape it is, so it gets the full screen player and the interface that comes with it.Open itFacebook Stories safe zone checkerThe Facebook Stories safe zone is the middle of a 1080x1920 frame, clear of the progress bars and Page row at the top and the reply controls at the bottom.Open itYouTube Shorts safe zone checkerThe YouTube Shorts safe zone is the part of a 1080x1920 frame that the Shorts player does not cover with the title, the channel row, the action buttons and the progress bar.Open itSocial media safe zone checkerA safe zone is the part of a full screen vertical post that the app’s own interface does not cover.Open itTikTok post previewerA TikTok post previewer puts your video or your photos behind the real TikTok interface: the caption at the bottom left, the action rail down the right, the sound ticker, and the dots if you are posting a photo carousel.Open itX (Twitter) post previewerAn X post previewer shows the tweet as a timeline renders it: your text at the real width, the photo grid X builds from your images, and the engagement row underneath.Open it

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Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about TikTok carousel safe zone checker from PublishQ

The same general idea as a video, with one addition: the pagination dots sit in their own row directly above the account line, so the bottom band is taller than a video safe zone template assumes. TikTok publishes no measurements for photo posts at all.
1080x1920 is the sensible default because it matches the vertical player. TikTok does not document a canvas or a ratio for photo posts, so anything else risks being fitted in a way you did not choose.
Thirty-five, which is more than any other platform offers, and the reason a long carousel is a TikTok-first format. Every slide has to be JPEG or WebP.
90 characters, with a separate description field of up to 4,000. That is a much shorter headline than the 2,200 character caption a TikTok video takes.
No. There are only the dots, no arrows and no "3 of 7" counter, so a reader has no idea how far through they are. That is worth designing around on the first and last slides.
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