NEW · FFmpeg.wasm · 100% Browser-Based

Free Video Rotator

Rotate videos 90°, 180°, or 270° in-browser. Fix sideways phone recordings with one click. No upload, no signup, no watermark.

🎬
Drop a video file
MP4 · MOV · WebM · MKV · AVI · GIF
Files stay on your device · Never uploaded

Why Do This in Your Browser?

Sideways phone videos are the single most common video problem people face. The phone records vertical with the orientation flag set, but somewhere along the chain (text message, email, upload, copy) the flag is lost or ignored, and the video plays sideways forever. Fixing this should be one click — it usually isn't.

This tool fixes it in one click. Drop the video, pick a rotation, export. When possible, the rotation is metadata-only — just flipping the orientation flag in the container, no re-encode, byte-exact, completes instantly. When the player ignores metadata orientation (which some players still do), an explicit re-encoded rotation is one toggle away.

How It Works

Container-level rotation is a metadata change: the MP4 'rot' atom is updated, signaling to every modern player that the video should be rotated on playback. No pixel data changes. This is what every phone recording app does when you tilt the phone, and what every modern player respects. The export takes seconds and is byte-exact for the video stream.

Sometimes that's not enough. Old players, embedded video in slide decks, and certain web frameworks ignore the metadata flag and play the video in its original orientation. For those cases, toggle 'physical rotation' — the tool re-encodes the video with the rotation baked into the pixels. Larger file, slower export, but plays correctly everywhere.

Tip: Rotation often needs a follow-up resize — phone portrait video rotated to landscape ends up at unusual aspect ratios. Fix it with the Video Resizer. After rotation, shrink the file if you're sharing it.

Common Use Cases

Fix Sideways Phone Videos
The most common case — your friend texted you a video and it plays sideways. Rotate 90° clockwise or counterclockwise, done.
Upside-Down GoPro Footage
Mounted upside down? Rotate 180° to flip everything right-side-up.
Mirror Selfie Video
Apply horizontal flip to un-mirror selfie-camera recordings.
Slide Deck Embed
Force physical rotation for videos embedded in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides — these players ignore the metadata flag.
Old Software Compatibility
Older video editors, museum kiosks, and digital signage frequently ignore rotation metadata.
Mounted Camera Rigs
Camera mounted vertically on a copter or stabilizer rig — rotate to landscape orientation.

How We Compare

Honest read on free, paid, and self-hosted options for this kind of job:

UDT Video Rotator (this tool): Free, browser-based, metadata-only when possible (instant). Physical rotation option for incompatible players. No upload, no watermark.
Clideo Rotate: Free tier watermarks. $9/mo. Cloud — full upload.
RotateMyVideo.net: Free, ad-supported. Cloud-based, full upload.
VLC Rotate Filter: Free, runs locally — but the rotation is a playback effect, not a saved file. Requires extra export steps.
FFmpeg transpose: Free, gold standard — `ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -vf 'transpose=1' out.mp4`. Requires CLI. This tool wraps it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the rotation a re-encode?
By default, no — rotation is applied via container metadata, taking seconds and preserving every byte of the video stream. Toggle 'physical rotation' for re-encoded output when target players ignore metadata orientation.
My video still plays sideways after rotation. Why?
Some players (older Windows Media Player versions, some PowerPoint embeds, certain web-embed players) ignore container rotation metadata. Toggle 'physical rotation' — the tool re-encodes with rotation baked into the pixels.
Are my videos uploaded anywhere?
No. Rotation runs entirely in your browser via FFmpeg.wasm — and metadata-only rotations don't even need the FFmpeg engine, just a quick container rewrite.
How long does rotation take?
Metadata rotations take 1–3 seconds regardless of video length. Physical rotations take roughly the same time as a full transcode — 30–90 seconds for 5 minutes of 1080p footage.
Does it work for vertical → horizontal?
Yes — 90° rotation converts portrait (vertical) phone video to landscape (horizontal) framing. Note that the visible area changes if the source has letterboxing — for proper aspect-ratio conversion, use the Video Resizer.
Can I rotate by arbitrary degrees (e.g., 45°)?
Not currently — only multiples of 90° plus horizontal and vertical flips. Arbitrary rotations require canvas resizing and typically aren't useful for video; we may add it for niche cases later.
Will my video quality degrade?
Metadata rotation: zero degradation, byte-exact video stream. Physical rotation: a single re-encode at CRF 23 — visually identical to source for most content, very minor quantization artifacts visible only in side-by-side comparison.
Why does my video have the wrong orientation after iPhone → Android transfer?
iPhones write orientation as metadata; some Android transfer paths strip metadata or set it incorrectly. The video pixels are correct but the rotation flag is wrong — this tool fixes that without re-encoding.

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