Rotate video

Turn a video 90, 180 or 270 degrees, or mirror it. The fast mode rewrites the orientation without touching a single frame.

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.mp4, .mov, .mkv, .webm, .avi · up to 200 MB

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How to Rotate the video

1
Add your video
MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM or AVI. The file is read on your device and never uploaded.
2
Turn it with the arrows
The player starts at the original orientation; each arrow turns the picture a quarter clockwise or counter-clockwise, and the preview follows every step.
3
Click Rotate and download
In the default mode this takes about a second, whatever the size of the file, and loses nothing at all.

Two ways to rotate, and the fast one is the default

An MP4 carries a small matrix that tells players how to orient the picture. Rewriting it turns the video without decoding a single frame: it takes about a second per hundred megabytes, costs nothing in quality, and works in browsers that have no video encoder at all. That is the default here. The catch is that some software ignores the matrix, a few older players, some editing suites and the occasional upload pipeline among them, and those will show the original orientation. If the video is going somewhere that has previously ignored a rotation, switch to re-encoding, which turns the actual pixels so that every player agrees.

Why phone videos arrive rotated already

A phone records with the sensor in a fixed position and writes down how you were holding it. That is why the same file looks upright in one app and sideways in another: the second one is not reading the note. This tool reads it and adds your turn to it, so what you ask for is relative to what you see, not to what the sensor did. If a video looks right in your player but wrong everywhere else, re-encoding it once will settle the argument permanently.

Mirroring is a different operation

Flipping horizontally or vertically cannot be written into the container's matrix, so choosing a flip switches the tool to re-encoding automatically and says so. Horizontal flip is the one people usually want: it fixes selfie footage that looks wrong because the preview was mirrored while the recording was not, and it makes text in the frame read correctly again.

What re-encoding costs

It decodes every frame, turns it, and encodes it again, so the work takes processor time proportional to the length of the video, and the picture goes through one more generation of compression. In exchange the rotation is permanent and universal. Because frames are decoded, that mode carries the same 200 MB and five-minute ceiling as the rest of the video tools, while the metadata mode is limited mostly by how much file your browser can hold.

Rotated without touching a frame

In the fast mode only the orientation flag in the file is rewritten, so not a single frame is decoded and nothing is lost. A flip, or a player that ignores the flag, needs the full re-encode, which your browser's own encoder does on this device. There is no upload, no account and no queue either way.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the two modes?

The default rewrites the orientation flag in the container: instant and lossless, but a few players ignore such flags. Re-encoding turns the actual pixels, so every player agrees, at the cost of time and one generation of compression.

Why does my video still look sideways in some app?

That app is ignoring the orientation flag. Re-encode instead and the rotation becomes part of the picture itself.

Does rotating lose quality?

Not in the default mode. No frame is decoded, so the picture is bit-for-bit what it was. Re-encoding costs one generation, which at the source bitrate is generally invisible.

Why is my phone video already rotated?

Phones record in a fixed sensor orientation and note down how the phone was held. Players that read the note show it upright; those that do not show it sideways.

How do I mirror a video?

Pick horizontal or vertical flip. Mirroring cannot be stored as a flag, so the tool switches to re-encoding automatically and tells you it has.

Is there a size limit?

The re-encoding mode takes up to 200 MB and five minutes, like the other video tools. The metadata mode does far less work, so it handles much larger files.