How to rotate a video in Windows 10 and 11 (5 ways)

Learn how to rotate a video in Windows 10 and 11 clockwise and counterclockwise permanently.

Windows video editor

Windows 10 comes with a built-in video editor, and you can use this video editor to perform basic video editing tasks, including rotating videos.

1. Click on the start menu button and then click on Video Editor.

Open Windows 10 video editor

You can also type video editor in the Windows search bar and then click on Video Editor when it appears.

You can also click on the start menu button and then click on Photos. The video editor is also built into the Photos app.

2. Click on the New Video Project button in the upper left corner.

Windows 10 video editor new video project button

Or click on New video in the upper right corner and then click on New video project.

Start a new video project in Windows 10 video editor

A “Name your video” window will appear.

3. Type a name for your new video project.

4. Click on the OK button.

Name the new video project in Windows 10 video editor

5. Click on the + Add button in the Project library section in top left corner.

6. Click on From this PC.

Add video button in Windows 10 video editor

A small “Open” window will appear.

7. Within the window, you go to the video you want to rotate.

8. Select the video.

9. Click on the Open button.

Open a video in Windows 10 video editor

The Windows 10 video editor will now load your video file.

10. Right-click on the video and then click on Place in storyboard.

Place video in storyboard in Windows 10 video editor

You can also select the video and then click on Place in storyboard.

Place video in storyboard in Windows 10 video editor

11. To rotate the video, you click on the Rotate video button rotate button underneath the preview player. Keep clicking the rotate button until you get the desired result.

Windows 10 video editor rotate video button

12. When you're done editing the video, you click on Finish video in the upper right corner.

Windows 10 video editor finish video button

A “Finish your video” window will appear.

13. Select the quality.

14. Click on the Export button.

Windows 10 video editor Finish your video window

A “Save as” window will appear.

15. Select a location on your computer where you want to save the new video.

16. At File name, you can enter a name for the new video.

17. Click on the Export button.

Windows 10 video editor save as window

The Windows 10 video editor will now export your new video.

Shotcut

Shotcut is a free and open-source cross-platform video editor for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Shotcut website

1. Open Shotcut.

2. Click on Open File in the top left corner.

Open File button in Shotcut

A “Open File” window will appear.

3. Within this window, you go to the video you want to rotate.

4. Select the video.

5. Click on the Open button.

Open video in Shotcut

The video will start playing immediately. You can pause the video by clicking on the pause button below the video.

Pause video in Shotcut

6. Drag the video to the timeline.

Drag video to timeline in Shotcut

7. Click on Filters located in the top menu.

8. Click on the + button.

Add filter in Shotcut

9. Click on Video.

10. Click on Size, Position & Rotate.

Size, Position & Rotate filter in Shotcut

11. At Rotation, you can rotate the video by using the bar or entering the degrees (e.g., 90.0, 180.0, 270.0).

Rotate a video in Shotcut

12. When you're done editing the video, you click on Export at the top.

Export button in Shotcut

A “Export” panel will appear.

13. In the Presets section, you select a video format.

14. If you want more advanced settings, you click on the Advanced button.

15. When you're done, you click on the Export File button.

Export panel in Shotcut

A “Export File” window will appear.

16. Select a location on your computer where you want to save the video file.

17. At File name, you type a name for the video.

18. Click on the Save button.

Export File window in Shotcut

Shotcut will now export your new video.

You can see the progress at Jobs located in the top right corner.

Progress bar in Shotcut

Filmora

Filmora is a user-friendly video editor for Microsoft Windows and macOS.

I'm using Filmora for editing videos for my YouTube channel.

Filmora website

1. Open Filmora.

2. Click on Import and then click on Import Media Files.

Import Media Files in Filmora

A “Open” window will appear.

3. Within this window, you go to the video you want to rotate.

4. Select the video.

5. Click on the Open button.

Open video file in Filmora

6. Drag the video to the timeline.

Or hover with your mouse cursor on the video and then click on the (+) button in the middle of the video.

Add video to timeline in Filmora

7. Filmora will now ask you if you want to change the project's settings to match this media. I recommend choosing the same resolution and framerate as the original video.

Project Settings in Filmora

Note: You can also find a project settings button below the video preview player.

Project settings button in Filmora

8. Click on the video to select it.

9. Click on the edit button.

Edit video button in Filmora

10. Expand Transform.

11. You can rotate the video using the slider, or you can enter a degree (e.g., 90, 180, 270) in the box/field next to the slider.

12. You can also flip the video.

Rotate or flip a video in Filmora

13. When you're done rotating or flipping the video, you click on the OK button.

Alternatively, you can also rotate the video by right-clicking the video and then click on Rotate 90 CW or Rotate 90 CCW.

Rotate a video in Filmora

14. When you're done editing the video, you click on the Export button at the top.

Export button in Filmora

A “Export” window will appear.

15. Select a video format.

16. Type a name for your video.

17. At Save to, you can see and change the location on your computer where Filmora will save the new video. To change this location, click on the small folder icon.

18. If you want more advanced settings, you click on the Settings button.

Export settings in Filmora

19. When you're ready, you click on the Export button at the bottom right of the “Export” window.

Filmora will now export your video.

A small window will appear and here you can see the progress.

Progress window in Filmora

Filmora will also play a sound when the process is complete.

VLC media player

VLC media player is a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS. It plays most video and audio files, and it offers a lot of extra features, like, for example, converting videos.

VLC website

1. Open and play the video in VLC media player.

You can right-click on the video and then click on Play with VLC media player.

Or if VLC is your default media player, then you can just double-click on the video to play it.

2. Once the video starts playing, you click on the pause button to pause it.

VLC pause button

3. Click on Tools located in the top menu.

4. Click on Effects and Filters.

VLC Effects and Filters

A “Adjustments and Effects” window will appear.

5. Click on Video Effects.

6. Click on Geometry.

VLC Video Effects and Geometry

7. Check the checkbox next to Transform.

8. Click on the selection menu button and select an option (e.g., Rotate by 90 degrees, Rotate by 180 degrees, etc.).

Rotate a video in VLC media player

You can also check the checkbox next to Rotate and then rotate the video manually using your mouse.

Rotate a video in VLC media player

9. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the “Adjustments and Effects” window.

10. Click on the Close button.

11. Click on Tools located in the top menu.

12. Click on Preferences.

VLC preferences

A “Preferences” window will appear.

13. In the bottom left corner of the “Preferences” window, you'll see a Show settings option. Here you click on the All option.

Open advanced preferences in VLC media player

A “Advanced Preferences” window will appear.

14. In the left menu, you go to Stream output.

15. Double-click on Sout stream to expand its options.

16. Click on Transcode.

17. Check the checkbox next to Video transformation filter.

VLC Video transformation filter

18. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the “Advanced Preferences” window.

19. Click on Media in the upper left corner.

20. Click on Convert/Save.

Convert / Save option in VLC media player

A “Open Media” window will appear.

21. In this window, you click on the Add button.

Add button in VLC media player

A “Select one or multiple files” window will appear.

22. In this window, you go to the video you want to rotate.

23. Select the video.

24. Click on the Open button.

The Select one or multiple files window in VLC media player

25. Click on the Convert/Save button at the bottom of the window.

Convert/Save button in VLC media player

A “Convert” window will appear.

26. At Profile, you click on the selection menu button and select Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4) or another video format.

Profile selection menu button in VLC media player

27. Click on the tools button next to the profile selection menu button.

Edit selected profile button in VLC media player

A “Profile edition” window will appear.

28. Click on Video codec.

29. Check the checkbox next to the Keep original video track option.

Video codec settings in VLC media player

30. Click on Audio codec.

31. Check the checkbox next to the Keep original audio track option.

Audio codec settings in VLC media player

32. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the window.

33. In the “Convert” window, you click on the Browse button.

Browse button in VLC media player

A “Save file” window will appear.

34. Select a location on your computer where you want to save the new video.

35. At File name, you type a name for the video. Make sure to give it a different name as the original video.

36. Click on the Save button.

Save file window in VLC media player

37. When you're ready, you click on the Start button at the bottom of the window.

Start button in VLC media player

VLC media player will now create your new video.

You can see the progress at the bottom of VLC.

Progress bar in VLC media player

38. When the video is complete, you click on Tools located in the top menu.

39. Click on Preferences.

VLC preferences

40. Click on the Reset Preferences button at the bottom of the window.

VLC reset preferences

41. Click on the OK button to confirm.

FFmpeg

FFmpeg is a free and open-source cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS.

FFmpeg website

On Linux, FFmpeg is easy to install because it's available in the default repositories and software centers of many popular Linux distributions such as Arch, Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro, MX Linux, Fedora, and many other Linux distro's.

I've made a tutorial for installing FFmpeg on Windows 10, here (link opens in new tab).

1. Open the folder where the video is that you want to rotate.

2. Open a Command Prompt window (Windows) or Terminal window (Linux) in the folder.

On Windows 10, you click on the address bar of File Explorer, type cmd, and the Press the Enter key on your keyboard.

Open a Command Prompt window in a folder in Windows 10 File Explorer

On Linux, you right-click in the folder and then click on Open Terminal Here.

Or you click on File in the upper left corner and then click on Open Terminal Here.

In the Command Prompt or Terminal window, you type (or copy and paste) one of the commands below and then Press the Enter key on your keyboard.

The following command will rotate a video by 90 degrees counterclockwise and flip vertically:

ffmpeg -i input-video.mp4 -vf "transpose=0" output-video.mp4

Note: Don't forget to replace input-video.mp4 with the filename of your video, and output-video.mp4 with the desired name for the new video.

The following command will rotate a video by 90 degrees clockwise:

ffmpeg -i input-video.mp4 -vf "transpose=1" output-video.mp4

The following command will rotate a video by 90 degrees counterclockwise:

ffmpeg -i input-video.mp4 -vf "transpose=2" output-video.mp4

The following command will rotate a video by 90 degrees clockwise and flip vertically:

ffmpeg -i input-video.mp4 -vf "transpose=3" output-video.mp4

The following command will rotate a video by 180 degrees clockwise:

ffmpeg -i input-video.mp4 -vf "transpose=2,transpose=2" output-video.mp4