Quick answer: open the video in the tool above, click Left or Right until the preview is upright, and export it. That rewrites the rotation flag in the file within moments and costs nothing in quality. If the clip is going to an old player or editor, switch on Maximum compatibility before you export, which draws the turn into the frames themselves.
A sideways video almost never means the recording is broken. Usually the file and the player disagree about which way up the picture goes. Working out which of the two is wrong tells you which fix will stick.
Drop the video onto the tool at the top of this page, or tap to pick it from your device. The preview shows it the way modern players do.
Click Right to turn it 90° clockwise or Left for 90° counterclockwise. Choose 180° if it is upside down. The ] and [ keys work too.
Leave Canvas on Expand for a lossless fix. If the video is heading for an old TV, editor or media player, also switch on Maximum compatibility.
Click Export video and download the result. Use the new file from now on, and delete the sideways one once you have checked it.
Most phones record every frame the same way round, whatever angle you hold them at, and add a small rotation flag to the MP4 or MOV file. The flag says something like "turn 90° when playing". Players that read it show the video upright. Anything that skips it shows the frames as stored, which for a portrait clip means lying on its side.
The phone chooses the flag from its motion sensors when you press record, then keeps that choice for the whole clip. Film with it flat on a table or aimed at the ceiling and it can't tell which edge is the top. Turn it after recording has started and the clip stays in the orientation you began with.
Rotation lock often gets the blame, yet on many phones it only stops the screen turning, while the built-in camera still reads the motion sensors. Cameras inside other apps don't always work that way. Some follow the screen instead, so with rotation lock on, a clip filmed with the phone turned can be saved on its side.
A screen recording follows the screen, not the motion sensors. If a game or video app draws in landscape while the recorder saves a portrait frame, or a desktop monitor is set to portrait in display settings, the recording can come out turned.
Some action cameras, dashcams and webcams have no orientation sensor, or have it switched off, so mounting one upside down gives an upside-down file. Some converters, messaging apps and upload services also re-encode a video and discard its flag without applying it, which turns a clip that used to play correctly.
Many players, VLC among them, can turn the picture while you watch. That only affects what you see in that window. The file on disk is untouched, so the clip is on its side again next time it opens anywhere else.
A lasting fix has to change the file. The lossless route rewrites only the rotation flag and keeps the original frames, which is quick and leaves quality exactly as it was. The compatibility route re-encodes the frames upright, which takes longer but works even in players that never look at the flag.
Your phone honours the rotation flag stored in the file, and the player on your computer doesn’t. Opening the clip in a current version of VLC, or another modern player, normally shows it upright.
Either its flag is 180° out, or it came from a camera mounted the wrong way up with no sensor to notice. Choose 180° in the tool above. A vertical flip is the wrong fix, because it leaves the picture mirrored; flip video shows the difference.
Not for a 90°, 180° or 270° turn with the Expand canvas and the default export settings, since the frames are copied as they are. Maximum compatibility, trims and other export changes re-encode at a high bitrate instead.
A small instruction stored in MP4 and MOV files that tells players to turn the picture by 90°, 180° or 270° on screen. The frames inside are left as recorded, which is why a player that skips the instruction shows them sideways.
Most platforms have no way to rotate a video once it is up. Fix the original file here, check it, and upload the corrected copy.
Yes. A screen recording is an ordinary video file, so turn it upright the same way. If you want a tall result for social apps instead, see turning a horizontal video vertical.
The tool handles one video at a time. Lossless quarter turns finish almost instantly, though, so working through a batch one after another is still quick.