Remotion Templates for YouTube Shorts: What to Look For

Vertical aspect ratio, actually handled correctly

Shorts requires 9:16 vertical video. A template originally built for 16:9 landscape and simply resized often has layout assumptions (element positioning, text sizing) that don't translate cleanly — check that positioning is proportional to the actual frame dimensions, not hardcoded for a different aspect ratio.

Safe zones for platform UI overlap

YouTube's Shorts interface overlays UI elements — like the video controls sidebar — over parts of the frame, particularly the right edge and bottom area. A template that places important text or callouts in those zones will have them obscured on the actual platform, something that isn't visible if you only preview the raw render outside the app.

Caption format and readability at small sizes

Shorts are frequently watched on smaller phone screens with the video occupying less than the full screen height in some viewing contexts — caption text sized for a full-screen preview can read as too small in actual use. Check the template's default caption size against a genuinely small preview, not just a full-size desktop render.

Loop-friendliness (optional but worth considering)

Shorts can autoplay in a loop — a template whose ending transitions reasonably back into its own beginning (or at minimum doesn't end on an awkward freeze frame) benefits from this platform behavior; one that clearly "ends" can look broken when it loops.

What doesn't matter as much as people assume

Frame rate and exact bitrate are less important than the above — YouTube re-encodes everything on ingest, so as long as your export meets basic quality standards (see our FFmpeg compression guide), the platform's own processing handles the rest.