Placing captions and choosing an aspect ratio
By Captionwale · 6 November 2026
Set the frame shape before placing anything, then drag captions into place, use the grid and safe-area overlay, and decide whether a move applies to one or all.
Choose the frame shape first
Above the preview is a row of buttons for the shape of the video: Original, 9:16, 16:9, 1:1 and 4:5. Set this before you place any captions or text. A caption's position is stored as a share of the frame, so changing the shape afterwards changes what surrounds it, and a caption that cleared a face in one shape may land on it in another.
Original keeps the video exactly as it was shot. Any other shape crops the video from the centre to fill the new frame, with no black bars. Turning a landscape clip into 9:16 therefore keeps the middle of the picture and loses the sides, so check that the speaker stays near the centre before you settle on it.
Which shape for which place
Most posts fit one of these:
- 9:16, tall and full screen on a phone, for Reels, Shorts and stories.
- 4:5, a little taller than square, which fills more of the screen in an Instagram feed than a square post does.
- 1:1, square, for feeds and for cross-posting when you are unsure how a video will be shown.
- 16:9, wide, for regular YouTube videos and anything watched on a laptop or a television.
- Original, whenever the clip already has the shape you want.
Moving a caption
On a computer, click the caption on the preview and drag it where you want it. A small card appears next to it, headed Apply position to, with two choices: Only this caption and All captions. The first moves the caption on screen and leaves the others where they are, which is handy for lifting one line off a face or a product. The second moves the whole set together, and replaces any positions you had given to single captions.
On a phone, the editor switches into a Move caption mode for this, with This caption and All captions as the choices, and Done or Cancel to finish. For exact values, the Text tab of the style panel keeps the caption's position alongside its font and colours.
The grid and the safe area
Beside the shape buttons sit three more. The first lays a rule-of-thirds grid over the preview, two lines across and two down; putting the speaker's eyes near the upper line and the caption near the lower one is a dependable start. The second, a dotted square, shades the edges where Reels, Shorts and TikTok draw their own buttons, handles and post text. The third plays the preview full screen, for a closer look at how the frame will read on a phone.
Neither the grid nor the shading ever reaches the export; both are guides for your eyes only. Captions kept inside the clear area stay readable in each of those apps. The safe-zone guide shows where each app puts its overlay and why the margins are as wide as they are.
Placement that holds up
A few habits keep captions easy to read once the video is live:
- On vertical video, the lower middle of the frame suits most captions: high enough to clear the handle and post text that the app prints at the foot of the screen.
- When one moment has something important where the caption usually sits, move that single caption instead of all of them.
- Keep titles and captions apart. If a hook sits near the top, the captions can stay low; text layers are placed and dragged in the same way.
- Hold one position across a series, so regular viewers know where to look without searching.
- Before exporting, play the busiest few seconds full screen with the safe area switched on.
Templates keep your position
Once a caption sits where you want it, you can try other templates without losing the spot. Switching templates changes the look but keeps the position, size and alignment, because those belong to this video rather than to the design. The frame shape is a setting of the project, and changing the template leaves it alone.
Until you move anything, each template places captions at its own default spot, and a few start lower than the safe area allows. Drag the caption once with All captions chosen, and that position stays put through every template you try afterwards.
Questions
Will changing the aspect ratio crop my video?
Yes, for any shape except Original. The picture is trimmed from the centre outwards until it fills the frame, in the preview and the export alike.
Do the grid and safe-area shading show up in the exported video?
No. Both are drawn only over the editor's preview, to help you place things.
Can one caption sit at the top while the rest stay low?
Yes. Drag that caption and choose Only this caption. The others keep the position they already had.