X safe zone: the only one X published is not the feed
There is no X timeline safe zone. The phrase does not appear on X's current creative specs page at all, and the one safe zone X did publish covers the full-screen Media Viewer, not the feed. So the timeline check is visual: put your creative in the card below and look.
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The X safe zone, and the placement it actually covers
X has published exactly one safe zone, and it is for the full-screen Media Viewer rather than the timeline. It is given as interface sizes in device pixels rather than as a share of your creative, which limits what you can do with it. Here is all of it, and what each figure does and does not cover.
For the timeline: nothing, and the word is gone too
No X-owned page gives a safe zone covering promoted image or video in the Home Timeline, in pixels or percentages. The phrase “safe zone” occurs zero times on the current creative specs page, zero times on the Vertical Video Ads page and zero times on creative best practices, where every instance of the word “safe” refers to brand safety.
The one safe zone X published is for the Media Viewer
X used the phrase exactly once, in the Immersive Takeovers section of the superseded specs page, under a line stating that Immersive Takeovers can only run in the Media Viewer. It points at the 9x16 vertical video geometry:
“See Vertical Video Ads for safe zones”
X Ads creative specs, superseded page, recorded not linked · accessed 16 Aug 2026
That cross-reference is what makes the tables below X's own definition of a safe zone rather than an interpretation of them. Two things follow. X's safe zone is for the full-screen Media Viewer, not the timeline. And the current specs page deleted the section that pointed at it, so on X's live documentation the concept now has no name and no numbers.
9x16 Media Viewer, iOS
9x16 Media Viewer, iOS: interface elements X published, in device pixels, for a full-screen placement that is not the timeline
Element
Size
What sits there
Top Bar
1125 x 110 px
Phone device icons and camera
Back Arrow / Profile Picture
100 x 100 px at X:45, Y:180
Profile picture, otherwise the back button
Blurb Bar
1125 x 250 px
Profile picture, name, handle, then 2 lines of caption max. “Ad” appears in the top right corner
CTA / Link Bar
1125 x 160 px
External link button, which appears after 1 second and stays
Video Metrics / Side Bar
1125 x 70 px
Replies, shares, likes, views, save and share
Main Menu / Bottom Bar
1125 x 250 px
Home, search, Grok, watch, notifications and messages
9x16 Media Viewer, Android
9x16 Media Viewer, Android: interface elements X published, in device pixels, for a full-screen placement that is not the timeline
Element
Size
What sits there
Top Bar
1080 x 72 px
Phone device icons and camera
Back Arrow / Profile Picture
100 x 100 px at X:75, Y:75
Profile picture or back button
Blurb Bar
1030 x 285 px
Profile picture, name, handle, then 3 lines of caption max. “Promoted” appears in the handle
CTA / Link Bar
315 x 105 px at X:190, Y:1385
External link button
Video Metrics / Side Bar
1080 x 45 px
Replies, shares, likes, views, save, share
Main Menu / Bottom Bar
1080 x 80 px
Home, search, Grok, watch, notifications, messages. Solid black
Interface elements X published for the 9x16 Media Viewer, in device pixels. Superseded specs page, read 16 August 2026. This is a full-screen placement, not the timeline.
Three things to know before you reuse those numbers
The two platforms disagree on the label. iOS puts “Ad” in the top right of the blurb bar. Android puts “Promoted” in the handle. Same product, two strings, two positions, both stated by X on one page.
The two platforms disagree on caption lines: 2 on iOS, 3 on Android, against the same page's own prose rule of a maximum of 3 lines, which does not distinguish platform.
The widths are device-native, not creative-native. 1125 px is an iPhone X class screen width and 1080 px a common Android one. These are screen coordinates, and X never states the frame height, so the reserved share of the picture cannot be worked out from X's own figures.
X does say the overlay is temporary
“Please be mindful of the various overlays in the Vertical Video viewer (outlined in yellow to the right). This overlay disappears after two seconds of your video is watched.”
“You can also include a call-to-action button to drive users to your website or app. This button appears after the viewer has watched one second of your ad.”
X distributes that boundary as a picture with a yellow outline rather than as a number, which is the same thing TikTok does with its downloadable overlay files. Neither publishes a percentage.
Everything X publishes about cropping, in one place
This is thin, and two of the four statements were deleted from the page X currently links. None of them describes a standalone promoted image or video in the timeline.
Every statement X publishes about cropping, with the placement it applies to
Statement
Placement it applies to
Page
“However, 1:1 will crop to 1.91:1 in mobile timeline.”
Image ads with polls
Superseded specs page
“However, 1:1 will crop to 16:9 in mobile timeline.”
Video ads with polls
Superseded specs page
“Any height is acceptable, but if the height exceeds the width, the video will be cropped to 1:1 in the feed.”
Amplify Sponsorships
Current specs page
“1:1 is recommended as it will always render as square on desktop and mobile, timeline and profile. This and 9:16 (vertical) will take up the same amount of real estate, which is more than 16:9.”
Amplify Pre-roll
Current specs page
The last sentence is the closest X comes to stating relative footprint in the timeline: 1:1 and 9:16 take the same room, and both take more than 16:9. It is written for Amplify Pre-roll, so it cannot be quoted as a general timeline rule. The gap that matters for a mockup is plain: X lists 9:16 as a supported size for standalone image and video ads and says nothing at all about how the timeline renders it.
There is no character cut-off figure, and X says why
X publishes no truncation rule for timeline post copy: not a character count, not a line count, not the label on the expand control. For the analogous full-screen surface it explains why, and the sentence is worth reading in full:
“There is a max of 3 lines of captions allowed before it is cut off with the ‘Read More’ option. We recommend 90 characters or less to have all of the captions appear on screen. We cannot provide the exact number of characters allotted before cut off as it can vary across phones & settings (eg user screen size, accessibility settings, etc.).”
X Ads creative specs, superseded page, recorded not linked · accessed 16 Aug 2026
That is X saying a fixed figure is not something it can give. The same shape shows up on long-form posts: X confirms they exist through the note_tweet object in its data dictionary, described as the full text of a post over 280 characters, and publishes nothing about where the timeline cuts one. Any page giving you a number for X feed truncation did not get it from X.
What this mockup draws, and where it differs
The mockup above draws the X timeline card at 375 logical pixels wide: profile picture, account name and handle, two lines of post copy, then your creative, then a link strip carrying the display URL, the headline and a call-to-action button, then the action row and the “Promoted” label. Three differences worth stating outright.
It takes horizontal files. This placement draws the 16:9 card, while X's current specs page lists six ratios. Upload a square or vertical file and the tool says so instead of quietly moving you to another platform.
The headline sits below the creative here. The only positional figure X publishes for a card headline is “Between 8 - 12 pixels from left and bottom of the image” (current specs page, 16 August 2026), so treat the headline position here as illustrative and check your own layout against that figure.
The post copy clamps at two lines. X publishes no timeline truncation rule at all, so that clamp is a drawing choice rather than an X specification. The card headline is the only field X gives a rendering rule for: 70 characters maximum, two lines rendered, an ellipsis after that, and 50 characters to be safe.
Everything else on this page is X's own, quoted with the address it came from and the date it was read.
Documentation
Two live specs pages, and X links only one
Worth knowing if you have ever found two different X spec sheets. X runs two creative ad specs pages. Both returned HTTP 200 on 16 August 2026, both carry the same page title, and they are different documents. The one X links publishes less about rendering behaviour than the one it replaced.
Live and publicly reachable, and not linked from the index. The address is recorded here rather than linked: an orphaned page can be removed at any time, and it would take every crop and overlay figure X publishes with it.
302 redirects to the superseded page. This is the address most third-party guides still cite, so anyone re-verifying against it is reading the superseded document without being told.
What the current page added
The expanded aspect ratios, 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 and 2:3 at 1080 x 1620, repeated under all eleven media sections.
What it dropped, with nothing put in their place
·Both mobile timeline crop statements.
·The 9x16 iOS and Android overlay pixel tables, which are the only numeric interface geometry X has ever published.
·The Media Viewer post copy truncation rule.
·The Amplify Marketplace overlay geometry, and the Collection Ads specs.
·The Immersive Takeovers section, and with it the only occurrence of the phrase “safe zones” anywhere in X's ad documentation.
Neither page carries a publish or updated date. Both embed an empty pagePublishDate, so the relationship between them cannot be established from X's own pages at all. That is why every figure here is dated by the day it was read rather than by the day X wrote it.
Published specs
X promoted image and video ad specs
All from X's own properties, read on 16 August 2026. X does not separate requirements from recommendations with headings the way Meta does; it marks strength word by word. So the Type column uses this site's vocabulary and X's own verb stays in the value, where you can check it.
One quiet trap in that table: X publishes three different pixel pairs for 1.91:1. The standalone recommended size is 1200 x 628, the card size is 800 x 418, and the expanded ratio block says 2064 x 1080. All three are roughly 1.91:1, and a tool keyed to “the 1.91:1 spec” has three X-published answers to choose from.
X's length line is routinely mis-summarised, so here it is whole: 15 seconds or less is recommended, up to 2:20 is supported, and select advertisers can request an increase up to 10 minutes, for which X advises 9:55 to allow for a range of video files.
Website card fields, which is what the mockup draws
X explains the truncation mechanism in the image card section and withholds it in the video card section on the same page: the video section gives the 70-character limit and a note that the description may truncate depending on device and app settings, without saying what actually happens. Website carousels get the full version back. There is no stated reason for the difference and no basis for assuming video cards behave differently.
The link rule reconciles exactly with the ads page: 280 minus 23 is 257. X's separate advice on length is a performance recommendation, not a rendering limit.
“The best performing ads are only 50-100 characters. Make sure your ad is simple, gets straight to the point, and focuses on one clear message.”
“Avoid using @mentions in your ad whenever possible, as they can distract viewers and lead them away from your content. Hashtags and multiple emojis are also prohibited in ads for the same reason.”
These are the figures that actually reject a file, and several do not match the marketing page. X's own caveat is on the media page: the media category parameter “can affect file size limits or other constraints enforced for media uploads”. It never publishes what the promoted-media category's limits are, so it says they vary and stops.
What X does not publish
X gives no figure for any of these. If a spec sheet hands you one, it did not come from X.
What X does not publish
Not published
Pages checked
Accessed
Any safe zone for a promoted image or video in the timeline, in pixels or percentages
Both creative specs pages, best practices, Vertical Video Ads, and both sets of developer docs
16 Aug 2026
How much post copy renders in the timeline before the expand control, and what that control is called
Both creative specs pages, counting characters, the data dictionary, best practices
16 Aug 2026
How a post longer than 280 characters is displayed in the timeline
Data dictionary, counting characters, business.x.com
16 Aug 2026
What the timeline does to a 9:16 promoted image or video: full height, crop or letterbox
Both creative specs pages
16 Aug 2026
Any canonical timeline width, height or container ratio to compute a crop against
Every X-owned page in the source list
16 Aug 2026
Character limits for a headline or description on a standalone ad, as opposed to a card
Both creative specs pages
16 Aug 2026
A minimum image size for feed ads on X's business site. Only the Ads API gives one, and only for cards
Both creative specs pages
16 Aug 2026
The timeline ad label's string, position or size
Both creative specs pages and the ad formats page
16 Aug 2026
The file size, duration and dimension limits of the amplify_video media category, which X says differ from the defaults
Media best practices, Ads API creatives
16 Aug 2026
Any publish or updated date on either creative specs page. Both embed an empty pagePublishDate
Both creative specs pages
16 Aug 2026
The date the expanded ratios shipped. The X blog post announcing them is indexed by search engines and returns a 404
business.x.com/en/blog
16 Aug 2026
X's consumer-side media specs, because help.x.com sits behind a bot challenge that returned 403 on every request
help.x.com, help.twitter.com
16 Aug 2026
Which number to use
Five X figures that depend on the page you read
Each of these sits between two pages X publishes itself. Here is the number to build to, with the sources under it.
X recommends video dimensions that exceed its own published API ceiling.
X publishes no reconciliation. The only thing it offers is a note that the media category “can affect file size limits or other constraints enforced for media uploads”, and it never states what the promoted-media category's constraints are.
Meta's dedicated safe-zone page carries no numbers, and adds a 40% rule found nowhere else.
Use the placement pages' figures. Treat 40% as the operative bottom reserve only for Reels ads that carry disclaimers; that rule appears on this one page.
X publishes no reconciliation. The only thing it offers is a note that the media category “can affect file size limits or other constraints enforced for media uploads”, and it never states what the promoted-media category's constraints are. If you upload through Ads Manager, the ads page figures are the ones to build to; if you upload through the API, expect the API ceiling to be the one enforced.
Last checked 16 Aug 2026
Source conflict
X publishes three different maximum file sizes for a promoted video
Three X-owned pages, three ceilings, and the two API figures do not agree either.
500 MB satisfies all three. The API layer is the one that rejects an upload, and it is the layer publishing the two lower figures. X's own separate advice, “strongly recommend to keep files under 30 MB”, sits well below all of them.
Last checked 16 Aug 2026
Source conflict
X's current specs page lists six aspect ratios and its Ads API publishes two
The layer that enforces at upload has not been updated to match the marketing page, and the superseded specs page agrees with the API, not with the current page.
1:1 and 1.91:1 for images, and 16:9 and 1:1 for video, are the pairs every X page agrees on. The four other ratios appear only on the current specs page, which carries no date, and no X-owned page says when they shipped: the blog post announcing them returns a 404.
Last checked 16 Aug 2026
Source conflict
BMP is refused on X's ads page and supported in its Ads API
Three different X-published image format lists are in circulation for the same object.
Use PNG or JPEG. They are the only two formats all three X lists agree on. The Ads API list omits GIF and WEBP, which the media API supports, so a format's acceptance depends on which upload path you use.
Last checked 16 Aug 2026
Source conflict
Meta's dedicated safe-zone page carries no numbers, and adds a 40% rule found nowhere else
The page that exists to explain safe zones is qualitative; the figures live on the placement pages it never cites.
Use the placement pages' figures. Treat 40% as the operative bottom reserve only for Reels ads that carry disclaimers; that rule appears on this one page. Three bottom figures (20%, 35%, 40%) circulate across Meta's own documentation with no page reconciling them.
Last checked 5 Aug 2026
Meta has the same shape of problem in a different place: the page whose whole job is to explain safe zones carries no numbers at all. See the Facebook page · All platforms on the hub
Every source on this page
Each figure above carries its source inline. The full list, all read 16 August 2026:
Two addresses appear on this page as text rather than links. The first is orphaned and undated and can be removed at any time; the second only redirects to it.
X Ads creative specs, superseded page: business.x.com/en/help/campaign-setup/creative-ad-specifications-old
Advertiser card specifications, which 302 redirects to it: business.x.com/en/help/campaign-setup/advertiser-card-specifications
Last verified 16 August 2026. Volatile figures (aspect ratios, character limits, file ceilings, and whether the superseded page is still reachable) are re-checked quarterly; stable ones (codecs, containers, counting rules) annually.
Other platforms
Safe zones and specs for the other placements
Each page carries that platform's published specs and its safe zone, sourced and dated. Instagram is the useful contrast: its safe zone has numbers, on the placement pages.
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