While you'd think a camera would be easy enough to point in the right orientation, in the world of smartphones, GoPro's, and other minute cameras, that's often not true. Watching it back with your head sideways isn't ideal, so today we'll show you how to rotate a video in Windows 10 via several tried and tested methods.
The first section will teach you how to rotate a video in VLC and save it after. VLC Media Player is a popular open-source tool that many already have installed. If that includes you, this will likely be the fastest method.
If you don't have VLC installed and don't want to get it, we'll also be showing how to do so with a video rotate software called “Free video flip and rotate”. Finally, if you like things old school, check out our final section on Windows Movie Maker. It's probably the easiest of the three, but Microsoft no longer provides an official download, so this section is only for those who have managed to maintain a copy.
How to Rotate or Flip a Video with VLC media player
If you don't yet have VLC media player, we strongly recommend you install it anyway. It can play basically any video format known to man and is heavily extensible. It also has some nifty built-in functions like the ability to set videos as backgrounds and the nifty VLC rotate video feature we'll be exploring today.
- Open the ‘Effects and Filters' menu
Press “Ctrl + E” to open Effects and Filters, or click “Tools” on the top bar and then “Effects and Filters”. - Open the Geometry tab and rotate your video
Click “Video Effects” in the top row of tabs, then “Geometry” in the row beneath. While there, tick “Transform” in the main pane and select the amount of rotation you'd wish in the drop-down menu beneath. If you want to, you can also flip videos here, horizontally or vertically.
Once you're done, press “Close“. - Open VLC preferences
Press Ctrl + P on your keyboard, or click “Tools > Preferences” to achieve this.
You'll notice that you rotated your video successfully and can watch it if you want. But now you may be wondering how to rotate and save with VLC. For the second step, we need to open the preferences menu. - Apply the video transformation filter
Then, in the side panel above, click Sout stream > Transcode. Finally, in the main pane, tick “Video transformation filter” and press “Save”.
In your Advances Preferences menu, look in the bottom right corner for the “Show settings” heading. Tick “All“ to see the full range of options available to you. - Save your rotated VLC video
With that done, you can be certain your changes will apply when you click “Media > Convert/Save…“. - Add your file
Click the “Add” button in the “Open Media” menu and select the file you just rotated. Then click the dropdown arrow next to “Convert/Save” and click “Convert”. - Click ‘Browse'
Click the “Browse” button next to the “Destination file:” field to select where you want to save your rotated video. - Browse and save your rotated VLC video
Open the folder you'd like to save the final file, in our case Videos. Press Save to select the folder. - Convert and save your video
Now all that's left is to press “Start” and wait for VLC to convert and save your video. It's a roundabout way, but by the end, you'll have a perfectly rotated video without the need for any additional software.
How to Rotate a Video with Free Video Flip and Rotate
As you may have noticed the process to rotate a video with VLC can be quite cumbersome, and we'd only really recommend it if you already have it installed. If you don't Free Video Flip and Rotate is a simple tool that will get the job done in a minute or two.
You can download it here and start it up when you're done.
- Drag your video into the ‘Drop files here' box
- Press the flip, rotate, or resize button
The icons from left to right are:– rotate left 90°
– rotate left 180°
– rotate right 90°
– flip vertically
– flip horizontally
– flip left to right
– flip right to left
Click the one that's most suitable for you and check the video preview to ensure it's correct. -
Choose your video format and save
In the bottom-right corner, click the “Convert to AVI” dropdown and select the format you'd like to export the video in. AVI and MP4 are typically the most compatible. Once you're done, press “Save”. By default, the video will output to your ‘My Videos' folder.
How to Use Windows Movie Maker to Rotate Video
Heavy users of Windows 7, Vista, or earlier may be more familiar with Windows Movie Maker. While Microsoft no longer offers an official download for this tool, many still have it installed. As a result, we're going to show you how to use Windows Movie Maker to rotate video anyway. Once you have it open, continue to the first step.
- Click ‘Add videos and photos'
You'll find the button up top in the “Home” tab. - Open your video
In the File Explorer menu that pops up, navigate to your video, click it, and select “Open”. - Press Movie Maker's rotate video buttons
Still in the “Home” tab, look to the “Editing” panel on the right side. Press one of the buttons with two triangles and an arrow pointing in the relevant rotation direction. The top icon will rotate the video 90 degrees to the left, and the bottom to the right. Adjust until the preview matches your expectations. - Save your video
Once you're happy, press “File > Save movie > Recommended for this project”. - Play your video or open its folder
Press “Play” to view your final video, or the “Open folder” button if you want to open it with a different player. If you aren't happy with the result, try adjusting the settings in the previous step.
If you found this tutorial useful, you may also enjoy our guide on screen recording. While you're here, why not learn how to open and convert HEIC files from your iPhone.