Rotate video clips that play sideways or upside down
You filmed it holding the phone the right way, but on the laptop, in the email or on the TV it plays sideways. Send the clip to your todo.is agent. It checks whether the problem is the picture or just a hidden rotation tag, turns it the right way, and gives you an MP4 that plays upright in every player.
The prompt
- Rotate the attached video [ATTACH THE VIDEO]. It currently looks [HOW IT LOOKS NOW]. Turn it so it plays [WANTED ORIENTATION]. First check if the file has a rotation tag that some players ignore, and fix it so it plays the same in every player, including Windows, WhatsApp and smart TVs. Keep the sound, length and quality the same. [EXTRA CHANGES]. Send me the fixed MP4.
What to change
- [ATTACH THE VIDEO]: Attach the MP4, MOV or 3GP file (up to 50 MB per upload). You can attach several clips.
- [HOW IT LOOKS NOW]: E.g. "turned 90 degrees to the left", "upside down" or "mirrored, the text on my shirt is backwards".
- [WANTED ORIENTATION]: E.g. "upright and vertical", "upright and horizontal" or "flipped back so text reads normally".
- [EXTRA CHANGES]: Optional, e.g. "also make it under 25 MB for email", "cut the first 3 seconds" or "nothing else".
Example result
- Rotation report: IMG_4412.MOV
- What was wrong
- • The picture was stored landscape (1920x1080) with a rotation tag of 90 degrees
- • iPhone and Mac players read the tag and show it upright
- • Windows Media Player and the smart TV ignored the tag, so it played sideways
- What your agent did
- • Rotated the actual pixels 90 degrees clockwise, so the picture is now 1080x1920
- • Removed the old rotation tag, so no player can turn it twice
- • Kept the audio untouched and the same length (0:47)
- • Re-encoded at a high quality setting; file size went from 61 MB to 44 MB
- File
- • Birthday_cake_rotated.mp4, H.264 video and AAC audio, plays in nearly every player
- Rotation options, explained
- • 90° clockwise: the top of the picture was facing left
- • 90° counter-clockwise: the top of the picture was facing right
- • 180°: the video is upside down
- • Flip horizontally: a mirror image, common with front-camera selfies where text reads backwards
- • Flip vertically: rare, usually from a camera mounted upside down
- Tag-only fix vs real rotation
- • Tag-only: instant and lossless, but some players and apps ignore it
- • Real rotation: works everywhere, needs a re-encode at high quality
- • Your agent tries the tag fix first when you only use modern players, and rotates the pixels when the clip must play correctly everywhere
- Want it horizontal for YouTube?
- Rotating a vertical clip to landscape leaves it narrow. Ask for "a 16:9 version with a blurred background" instead.
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt and describe how the video looks now and how it should look.
- Paste it into todo.is and attach the clip, or forward the video to your agent on WhatsApp or Telegram with the text.
- Your agent checks the rotation tag, turns the picture and tests the result.
- Download the MP4. If you have a batch of sideways clips, attach them all and ask for the same fix.
Tips for a better result
- If the video looks right on your phone but wrong on your computer, it's almost always the rotation tag. Say so, and your agent will fix the file for all players.
- Describe the direction by where the top of the picture points now. "The top is on the left" means rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
- Front-camera clips are often mirrored, not rotated. Ask for a horizontal flip if writing looks backwards.
- Combine fixes in one to-do (rotate, trim and compress) so the video is only re-encoded once.
rotate video: FAQ
- Why does my video play sideways on my computer but not my phone? Phones save a rotation tag instead of turning the picture. Some computer players and apps ignore that tag. Rotating the actual frames fixes it everywhere.
- Does rotating a video reduce quality? A tag-only fix doesn't touch the picture. A real rotation re-encodes the video, but at a high quality setting the difference is very hard to see.
- Can I rotate a video by just a few degrees to straighten it? Yes. Your agent can rotate by a small angle and zoom in slightly to hide the corners. Expect to lose a little of the edges.
- Can I rotate only part of a video? Yes. Give the start and end time of the part that is sideways, and your agent rotates that part and joins it back to the rest.
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