<h1>Rotate without re-encoding</h1>

<p>You can add rotation metadata:</p>

<pre><code>ffmpeg -i input.3gp -c copy -metadata:s:v rotate=90 output.3gp
</code></pre>

<ul>
<li><p><code>-c copy</code> will enable <a href="https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-copy" rel="noreferrer">stream copy</a> mode, so it will just re-mux instead of re-encode.</p></li>
<li><p>Player and device support for the <code>rotate</code> metadata may vary, so your player or device may not actually rotate the video. If that is the case you may have to manually rotate within the player, or re-encode.</p></li>
</ul>

<h1>Rotate with re-encoding</h1>

<p>When re-encoding <code>ffmpeg</code> will automatically rotate the video. The rotate metadata/sidedata will not be copied from the input (which is a good thing).</p>

<pre><code>ffmpeg -i input output
</code></pre>

<p>If it doesn't work for you then your build is too old. Refer to the <a href="https://ffmpeg.org/download.html" rel="noreferrer">FFmpeg Download</a> page.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-13T19:01:53.523Z
Any idea why rotating 90 deg does 180, and rotating 360 does 90? haha
JorgeeFG
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-06T17:33:54.363Z
2015-09-07T07:16:31.537Z
2015-09-07T07:16:31.537Z
llogan
<p>I created a video in my cellphone holding the phone in portrait mode. The video is 720p and it looks perfectly fine in cell phone. I copied it on computer and when viewing it, the video looks 90 degrees anti-clockwise rotated. It is confusing for me that why it happened. How can I rotate the copied video back to 90-degrees without re-enconding the video.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T16:48:31.257Z
It has been answered to death already. Not possible, unless container supports it or you are using MJPEG codec, which you are not.
v010dya
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T16:53:48.067Z
@Volodya ok, deleted my answer, but might be better suggest a duplicate instead of downvoting it.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T16:56:11.493Z
@poor I've clicked downvote on your answer by some weird accident. Tried to undo, but it didn't let me.
v010dya
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T17:04:30.533Z
@Volodya this is the only one I've found here: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15013/avconv-rotating-mpeg4-video-loses-quality/15021#15021 and I don't think this is a duplicate.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T17:17:33.897Z
@poor Ok, i now feel dumb. There were several questions, some of which have provided a very in depth explanations on how to rotate mjpeg via bash scripts and imagic. It really feels like somebody has gone on a cleaning spree and has removed too much. Alternatively i've dreamt all those questions. I'm trying to find them now on other SE.
v010dya
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T17:26:01.270Z
@Volodya I think only equal questions are **real duplicates** (avconv rotation is not equal to _How to rotate my 3gp video_), but we could post a meta, if you are interested and also suggest a duplicate if you find one. I've undelete my answer, just to have an answer for this question, see the statistics: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/4/audio-video-production.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-20T09:19:08.660Z
Apparently my answer doesn't solve your issue. Please let us know, what else you need or edit your question.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-06T17:34:20.143Z
@poor Yet another drive-by-question.
llogan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-07T06:53:10.813Z
@LordNeckbeard Haha - a **drive-by-question** ;) Made my day. Upvoted your answer to prevent that this question comes over and over again... Thanks.
p2or
<encoding>
how to Rotate a 3gp video without re-encoding
user1451111
# how to Rotate a 3gp video without re-encoding

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-05-04)

I created a video in my cellphone holding the phone in portrait mode. The video is 720p and it looks perfectly fine in cell phone. I copied it on computer and when viewing it, the video looks 90 degrees anti-clockwise rotated. It is confusing for me that why it happened. How can I rotate the copied video back to 90-degrees without re-enconding the video.

**Tags:** encoding

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It has been answered to death already. Not possible, unless container supports it or you are using MJPEG codec, which you are not.  
> **username_2**: @Volodya ok, deleted my answer, but might be better suggest a duplicate instead of downvoting it.  
> **username_1**: @poor I've clicked downvote on your answer by some weird accident. Tried to undo, but it didn't let me.  
> **username_2**: @Volodya this is the only one I've found here: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/15013/avconv-rotating-mpeg4-video-loses-quality/15021#15021 and I don't think this is a duplicate.  
> **username_1**: @poor Ok, i now feel dumb. There were several questions, some of which have provided a very in depth explanations on how to rotate mjpeg via bash scripts and imagic. It really feels like somebody has gone on a cleaning spree and has removed too much. Alternatively i've dreamt all those questions. I'm trying to find them now on other SE.  
> **username_2**: @Volodya I think only equal questions are **real duplicates** (avconv rotation is not equal to _How to rotate my 3gp video_), but we could post a meta, if you are interested and also suggest a duplicate if you find one. I've undelete my answer, just to have an answer for this question, see the statistics: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/4/audio-video-production.  
> **username_2**: Apparently my answer doesn't solve your issue. Please let us know, what else you need or edit your question.  
> **username_3**: @poor Yet another drive-by-question.  
> **username_2**: @LordNeckbeard Haha - a **drive-by-question** ;) Made my day. Upvoted your answer to prevent that this question comes over and over again... Thanks.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-09-06. Score: 6

Rotate without re-encoding
You can add rotation metadata:
ffmpeg -i input.3gp -c copy -metadata:s:v rotate=90 output.3gp


-c copy will enable stream copy mode, so it will just re-mux instead of re-encode.
Player and device support for the rotate metadata may vary, so your player or device may not actually rotate the video. If that is the case you may have to manually rotate within the player, or re-encode.

Rotate with re-encoding
When re-encoding ffmpeg will automatically rotate the video. The rotate metadata/sidedata will not be copied from the input (which is a good thing).
ffmpeg -i input output

If it doesn't work for you then your build is too old. Refer to the FFmpeg Download page.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Any idea why rotating 90 deg does 180, and rotating 360 does 90? haha  

---

