Skip to main content
rotate.video

How to rotate a video on a Mac

Use the rotate commands built into QuickTime Player, Photos and iMovie, or straighten the file in Safari or Chrome without installing an app.

Choose a video to rotate

Drop one here or choose one from your device.

Works withMP4MOVWebMMKVand more

Private: your video never leaves your device.

  1. 1Choose video
  2. 2Rotate
  3. 3Download

Quick answer: open the video in QuickTime Player and choose Edit → Rotate Left or Edit → Rotate Right until it's upright. Then choose File → Export As and pick a resolution to save a rotated copy.

Every Mac already has three apps that can do this, and each suits a different situation. QuickTime is the fastest for a loose file, Photos is best when the clip lives in your photo library, and iMovie makes sense if you're editing anyway. To keep an MP4 as an MP4 with no re-encode, use the tool at the top of this page.

Rotate a video with QuickTime Player

QuickTime Player comes with macOS and sits in your Applications folder. Its rotate and flip commands have lived in the Edit menu for many releases.

  1. Open the file

    In Finder, Control-click the video and choose Open With → QuickTime Player. Or start QuickTime Player and use File → Open File.

  2. Rotate it

    Choose Edit → Rotate Right for a quarter turn clockwise, or Edit → Rotate Left for counterclockwise. Choose the same command twice for a half turn.

  3. Flip it if needed

    The Edit menu also offers Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical, for footage that is mirrored or reflected.

  4. Export a copy

    Choose File → Export As, then pick the resolution that matches your original so the copy isn’t scaled down.

  5. Name and save

    Give the new file a name, choose a folder and select Save. QuickTime writes a separate .mov file and your original stays as it was.

Rotate a video in the Photos app on Mac

If the clip came across from your iPhone through iCloud Photos, or you imported it into your library, Photos is the natural place to fix it.

  1. Double-click the video in Photos to open it.
  2. Click Edit in the toolbar.
  3. Click the Rotate button at the top of the window. Each click turns the video a quarter turn counterclockwise, so three clicks equal one clockwise turn.
  4. Click Done to keep the change.

Photos stores your edit next to the untouched original. To go back, open the video, click Edit and choose Revert to Original. With iCloud Photos switched on, the rotation also syncs to your iPhone and iPad.

For a file you can send or upload, select the video and choose File → Export → Export 1 Video. Skip Export Unmodified Original for this job, since it hands you the sideways version you started with.

Rotate a clip in iMovie on Mac

iMovie costs nothing on the App Store, and many Macs have it already. Rotation sits with its cropping controls:

  1. Select the clip in the timeline.
  2. Click the Cropping button above the viewer.
  3. Click one of the two rotate buttons to turn the clip counterclockwise or clockwise.
  4. Click the Apply button (the tick) to confirm.
  5. Choose File → Share → File to export the finished movie.

The rotation belongs to the project rather than the source clip, so the file you imported stays sideways outside iMovie. If the turned clip leaves gaps at the edges of the project, Crop to Fill in the same controls zooms in to cover it, trimming the edges.

Which Mac method should you use?

  • A single file on your desktop: QuickTime Player, which can flip it as well.
  • A video in your photo library: Photos, so the fix follows the clip to your other Apple devices.
  • Part of an edit with music or titles: iMovie, or Premiere Pro for professional work.
  • An MP4 that has to stay at full quality: the browser tool, which turns it without re-encoding.
  • Only watching: VLC for Mac can turn playback without touching the file; see how to rotate a video in VLC.

Rotate a video on a Mac without re-encoding

Exporting from QuickTime, Photos or iMovie generally produces a newly encoded file. The tool on this page takes a different route for quarter turns: it rewrites the rotation flag in the file and copies the video and sound across unchanged. The result is identical in quality to what you started with, and even a long clip is done in moments.

  1. Open this page in Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Edge and drop the video onto the tool.
  2. Click Right or Left, or press ] or [, until the preview is upright. Keep Canvas on Expand.
  3. Click Export video, then Download video. Unless you've picked another location, the file lands in your Downloads folder.

It opens the MOV files an iPhone records, as well as MP4, WebM and MKV. Flips, Fine angles and trims are available too, but they redraw every frame and so take longer. Your Mac does the processing, and the video never goes to a server.

Rotating video on a Mac: FAQ

How do I rotate a video 90 degrees on a Mac?

In QuickTime Player, choose Edit → Rotate Right for clockwise or Edit → Rotate Left for counterclockwise, then save a copy with File → Export As. In the browser tool, one click on Right or Left does the same.

Why does QuickTime save my rotated MP4 as a .mov?

Export As in QuickTime Player always writes its own .mov format. Most apps open .mov files without trouble, but if you need an MP4, rotate it in the browser tool, which exports MP4.

Can I flip a video on a Mac?

Yes. QuickTime Player has Edit → Flip Horizontal and Edit → Flip Vertical. The tool above flips as well; flip a video explains which direction you need.

How do I undo a rotation in Photos on Mac?

Open the video, click Edit, then click Revert to Original. Because Photos never discards the original, this works no matter how long ago you made the change.

Is there a keyboard shortcut to rotate a video on a Mac?

In the browser tool, [ rotates left and ] rotates right, with H and V for the two flips. In QuickTime, Photos and iMovie, open the menu and look to the right of each command, where macOS lists any shortcut it has.

My rotated video plays sideways in another app. What now?

That app is probably ignoring the rotation flag. Open the original sideways file in the tool above, turn it upright and switch on Maximum compatibility before exporting, so the turn is drawn into the picture. Our sideways video guide covers the causes.

Does the browser tool work on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs?

Yes. It runs in any modern browser on either kind of Mac. Re-encoding is faster on a newer machine, while lossless quarter turns are quick on all of them.