Rotate a MP4 file, while preserving codec and quality attributes

Question

I need to rotate a MP4 video by 90 degrees. There is software like Free Video Flip and Rotate available that does this but produces an AVI file.

Do you have any suggestions for a software to produce a MP4 that is in the same quality (and file size) as the original, just 90 degrees rotated? Does not have to be free software ;-)

This very similar question has a better answer than the below: use `exiftool`: https://superuser.com/a/1310590/127024 — Johann, Jan 20 '21 at 20:17

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 14 '18 at 12:46

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Open Avidemux (free video editing software)
Open your mp4 file.
Choose a "Video Output" other than "Copy" [I chose "Mpeg4 ASP (ff)"]
Choose Video > Filters (or in Windows, press Ctrl+Alt+F)
Double-click "Rotate" to add that filter
Choose 90 degrees
Press "Close" to exit "Video Filter Manager"
Save

(Thanks to @secret for getting me started, but his/her list of steps weren't complete.)

edited Jun 14 '18 at 12:46

Raymundus

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answered Sep 02 '13 at 20:23

Ryan

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I used this once in the past, I don´t know what I did, avidemux looks like detected video was rotated automatically, and rotated video by itself :/... now I have another clean installation and does not work that way anymore, and when I select video outputs (tried all possible combinations) it never ends with same file size than the first time... I would love to have a way to say... "format same than origin" and rotate only – Yogurtu Jun 21 '19 at 22:44

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

I used Avidemux, a free video editor.

This software allows you to rotate any movie.

In a drop-down list you can select the desired output format (e.g. MP4, AVI, FLV, etc.).

If using the MPEG-4 ASP setting in the video drop-down list, you will have to fiddle around with Quantizer setting (A higher number means reduced file size and less quality).

This tool is great when you capture a movie on your cell phone and want to send the movie to friends!

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 30 '17 at 15:06

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If you actually recorded video in landscape mode, but phone erroneously saved in metadata that it is 90 degrees rotated (it happen to me today during helicopter flight) just download ffmpeg and use this command (completely lossless as it just writes new header - metadata):

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=0 output.mp4

answered Apr 30 '17 at 15:06

Nenad Bulatović

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I just tested this approach, seems not to lose quality, file size is 0.001% bigger tough, not sure why if this is a header-metadata change only. – Yogurtu Jun 21 '19 at 22:42
I experience a 1.3MB decrease in size but the command ran in a couple of seconds, not nearly long enough to transcode anything 3 minutes long. All I can guess is that GoPro has a bunch of extra room in the file that is not actually used. Maybe space pre-allocated for event tags and such. – boatcoder Feb 16 '20 at 17:29
This is NOT necessarily lossless - if the source video has any other streams (i.e. subtitles, etc) they won't be copied. For that you need -map 0. And even with -map 0 & -copy_unknown, it can still screw up some streams it doesn't recognize, i.e. telemetry recorded by GoPros. – J23 Jun 19 '20 at 07:18
This wasn't working for me, but found [this page](https://ostechnix.com/how-to-rotate-videos-using-ffmpeg-from-commandline/) with a similar solution that worked: `ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map_metadata 0 -metadata:s:v rotate="90" -codec copy output.mp4` – Joao Coelho Dec 30 '21 at 18:54

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 27 '12 at 23:33

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Open Avidemux
Press Ctrl+Alt+F (for Windows)
Select Rotate
Save

edited Sep 27 '12 at 23:33

Oliver Salzburg

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answered Sep 27 '12 at 21:05

secret

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Easiest method so far! – TimothyP Mar 06 '13 at 06:17
When I save, I end up with a file of the same size which doesn't actually play. This didn't work until I changed "Video Output" from `copy` to something like `Mpeg4 ASP (ff)` – Sterno Sep 24 '13 at 17:36
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-1 because although the program suggested is helpful, the steps are incomplete. – JYelton Oct 23 '13 at 19:21
See Ryan's solution for complete steps. – Anton May 28 '14 at 18:50

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 14 '13 at 02:07

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You can rotate an MP4 video using VLC and some awesome nice guy wrote a detailed set of instructions with screenshots here: http://www.wintips.org/how-to-rotate-and-save-a-video-using-vlc-media-player/ (Disclaimer: This post isn't spam, I have no connection at all to the site or the dude who wrote the instructions. I merely used the instructions to rotate a video of my baby daughter and so I'm just really grateful for it.)

answered Aug 14 '13 at 02:07

Grateful Dood

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I think my version of VLC is broken because VLC won't rotate anything, even for viewing, let alone saving the rotated file..... – boatcoder Feb 16 '20 at 17:21

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 30 '11 at 21:45

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The easiest method I've seen is with QuickTime (Pro), open Movie Properties, click Video Track, then go to Visual Settings and use the arrows to rotate as needed. Then close the Movie Properties, then do a File Save As.

answered Jun 30 '11 at 21:45

Syclone0044

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 12 '13 at 16:35

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I had many .mov files that needed rotation. I used Square 5 Streamclip and did not loose any quality. Super easy to save as in many file formats: http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html

answered Apr 12 '13 at 16:35

larry

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Your answer sounds suspiciously like an advertisement. Please read the [FAQ](http://stackoverflow.com/faq#link-promotion) on these types of posts as answers. If you're going to provide a link to your product at least take the time to show how you would do this in it. At least your answer would have more merit than just a link. – slm Apr 12 '13 at 17:00
I tried it. First the "stable" version 1.2 - it does not have the Rotate option. The beta 1.2.1b6 does have the option, but it didn't work for me on 1st try and I didn't pursue any further. At least there's nothing to install - just unzip an executable - and it doesn't seem to hae strings (i.e. crapware) attached. It does require a certain version of `Quicktime Alternative`to be installed. A link to that is on their site – Cristian Diaconescu May 05 '13 at 21:31

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 11 '09 at 22:47

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There's no way to rotate a video without re-encoding it. So you can only appoximate the size and quality.

I recommend VirtualDub to do the rotation. It's free and fast.

answered Dec 11 '09 at 22:47

fretje

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VirtualDub does not seem to support MP4, but Avidemux does. – sschuberth Jan 10 '13 at 22:00
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This is actually not true. The MP4 format supports a `rotate` flag, which informs the player to rotate the video prior to displaying it. The flag can be edited using f.ex. the [MP4Box](http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MP4Box) command-line multiplexer. – Witiko Jun 30 '13 at 17:02

Rotate a MP4 file, while preserving codec and quality attributes

8 Answers8