How to rotate a video in Premiere Pro

If you've rotated a landscape clip to portrait, or the other way round, the sequence needs the matching shape:

1. With the sequence open, go to Sequence → Sequence Settings.
2. Under Video, swap the Frame Size values, for example from 1920 × 1080 to 1080 × 1920.
3. Back on the timeline, right-click the clip and choose Set to Frame Size, or adjust Scale under Motion, so the clip fills the new frame.

For a single clip, you can also right-click it in the Project panel and choose New Sequence From Clip to get a sequence that already matches its size and frame rate. To turn a finished landscape edit into a vertical version for social media, Sequence → Auto Reframe Sequence creates a 9:16 copy and keeps the action in frame.

Premiere's flip effects live in the Effects panel rather than under Motion:

1. Open the Effects panel and type "flip" into the search box.
2. Drag Horizontal Flip (to mirror the clip) or Vertical Flip onto the clip in the timeline.
3. To remove a flip, select the effect in Effect Controls and delete it, or switch it off with its fx toggle.

A horizontal flip is the usual fix for continuity, when a subject needs to face or move the other way. Watch for text and logos, which will read backwards. For more on when to mirror a video, see our guide.

If you'd rather drag than type, select the clip, then click the word Motion in Effect Controls. Handles appear around the clip in the Program Monitor. Move the pointer just outside a corner handle until it turns into a curved arrow, then drag to rotate. You can fine-tune the exact value in Rotation afterwards.

To spin a clip rather than turn it once, click the stopwatch next to Rotation to set a keyframe, move the playhead, then enter a new angle. Premiere animates between the two values.

• Premiere Pro is a paid subscription, and it's a heavy tool for straightening one clip.
• Rotation in Premiere is part of the edit. Every export re-encodes, and the source file on disk stays sideways for any other app or person you share it with.
• A rotated clip in a mismatched sequence shows black bars or cropped edges until you fix the frame size or scale.

If a clip just needs to be upright before you edit, fix the file first with the tool at the top of this page. Quarter turns are lossless and finish almost instantly, so the clip imports the right way up and you skip the Motion and sequence settings. You can also flip a video there when Premiere isn't open. Prefer a free editor on Windows? See how to rotate a video in Windows with Clipchamp, or rotate a video in VLC.