A TikTok cover maker that shows what the app covers up
TikTok paints a lot on top of your video: “Following” and “For You” across the top, a column of like, comment, save and share buttons down the right, and your username, caption and sound line along the bottom. A cover that looks perfect in an editor can end up with its punchline behind the heart button. This TikTok cover maker draws those parts of the app over a 1080 × 1920 canvas, warns you when a word sits underneath them, and previews the cover as the 3:4 tile on your profile grid with a view count in the corner.
Build the cover from templates or from scratch with gradient backgrounds, outlined and highlighted text, stickers, arrows, emoji and your own photos. Save the design and reuse it so every part of a series looks the same on your profile. The editor runs entirely in your browser — nothing you design or upload leaves your device.
How to use the TikTok Cover Maker
- Start from a template such as “Storytime”, “Part 2” or “Tips & hacks”, or press Start blank.
- Tap the text on the canvas and type your hook in Edit. Keep it to a few words: the profile tile is only about 128 pixels wide.
- Keep text inside the green safe area, away from the red zones for the buttons and caption. Tick Long caption if you write long captions; they push the caption block higher.
- Tick Profile grid crop (3:4) to see the part of the cover your grid shows, and check the tile preview under the canvas.
- Download a JPG and choose it when you post: tap Edit cover on the post screen. If your app only lets you pick a video frame, put the image at the start of your video and select that frame.
TikTok Cover Maker features
App interface on the canvas
Top tabs, right-hand buttons, caption and sound line are drawn over your design and never exported.
Under-the-button warnings
Each text layer is checked against the button column, caption area and top tabs, and against the 3:4 grid crop when you need it.
Profile tile preview
A 128-pixel 3:4 tile with a view count shows how the cover reads among your other videos; a small For You preview shows the whole screen.
Short and long captions
A second overlay shows how far up a three- or four-line caption reaches, because TikTok’s safe area shrinks as captions get longer.
Exact 1080 × 1920 export
JPG, PNG or WebP at the full vertical size, with an optional size limit that lowers JPG quality only as much as needed.
Series-friendly
Undo, autosave and a .json design file keep one look across “Part 1”, “Part 2” and beyond.
TikTok cover safe zones (approximate, as of October 2026)
TikTok’s Business Help Center says the safe zone depends on the video shape, caption length and any interactive add-ons, and publishes downloadable overlay files rather than one set of numbers. The zones this tool draws are a generous approximation for a normal post on a 1080 × 1920 frame:
| Area | Covered by | Approx. pixels on 1080 × 1920 |
|---|---|---|
| Top | “Following | For You”, search | y = 0 to 155 |
| Right edge | Profile picture, like, comment, save, share, sound disc | x = 935 to 1080, y = 770 to 1770 |
| Bottom | Username, caption, sound line | y = 1480 to 1920 (higher with long captions) |
| Profile grid | 3:4 tile of the cover | about y = 240 to 1680 |
Worked example: moving a hook out from under the buttons
Say your hook is one line of 168 px Anton that measures 900 px wide, centred on the frame at x = 540 and placed at y = 1100. It spans x = 90 to 990, so its last 55 px — about 6% of the text — sit inside the button column that starts at x ≈ 935, and the tool warns that it is under the like and share buttons. Move the centre to x = 480, as the templates do, and the line spans x = 30 to 930: just clear. The text still looks centred, because the buttons fill the right-hand side of the screen anyway.
On the profile grid the same 168 px line becomes about 20 px tall on a 128-pixel tile (168 × 128 ÷ 1080) — easy to read. A 50 px subtitle would shrink to about 6 px, below the tool’s 8-pixel warning line.
Cover ideas that work on TikTok
- Number the parts. “Part 2” covers with the same colour and font tell viewers on your profile exactly where to start.
- Put a face on it. Cut yourself out with Remove Background and place the PNG into a photo placeholder.
- One question or claim. “Unpopular opinion”, “Wait for it” or a number works better than a full sentence.
- To reshape the video itself, use the TikTok Video Resizer; to grab a still from your footage as a background, try the Video Thumbnail Generator, then add it here as a background photo.
TikTok Cover Maker FAQ
What size is a TikTok cover?
The same as the video: 1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16. This TikTok cover maker exports exactly that size. Your profile grid shows a 3:4 tile from the middle of it.
Where does TikTok cover my thumbnail?
In the For You feed the top tabs cover roughly the top 8%, the buttons take the right-hand 13% from about 40% of the way down, and the username, caption and sound line cover the bottom quarter — more with long captions. The overlays on the canvas show these areas.
Can I upload a custom image as my TikTok cover?
When posting, tap Edit cover. Depending on your app version and region you can pick a frame from the video or add a photo. If you can only pick a frame, place this image at the start of your video in your editor and select that frame.
Why is my TikTok cover cropped on my profile?
The profile grid shows covers as roughly 3:4 tiles, so the top and bottom of a 9:16 cover are trimmed. Turn on the grid overlay and keep your words inside the frame.
Which file type should I use?
JPG is smallest and is re-encoded by TikTok anyway. PNG keeps flat colours and fine text perfectly if you prefer a cleaner master file.
Does this tool upload my photos?
No. Designing and exporting happen in your browser. Only the fonts are downloaded, from Google Fonts; if they are unavailable a similar system font is used.