How To Rotate a Video in Windows 10: Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Rotating a video in Windows 10 might seem straightforward, but sometimes the built-in tools just don’t cooperate. Maybe the video stubbornly refuses to flip the way you want, or the rotation options aren’t as intuitive as they look. It’s kind of annoying, because Windows has to make it harder than necessary, but with a few tricks up your sleeve, rotating videos can be done without dropping dozens of bucks on fancy software. This guide aims to help troubleshoot that frustration, whether you’re dealing with a quick orientation fix or needing to do some batch edits.

How to Fix Video Rotation Issues in Windows 10

Method 1: Use the Photos App’s Built-In Rotation (if it works)

The Photos app is supposed to be your go-to, easy-peasy tool for flipping videos. Still, sometimes it just doesn’t rotate correctly after you hit the button, or your save doesn’t stick. But on one setup it worked fine, on another… not so much. Anyway, here’s how it’s supposed to go:

Open the video with the Photos app — just right-click the file, go to Open with > Photos. If that doesn’t work, try dragging the video directly into the Photos window.
Click on Edit & Create on the top menu, then choose Edit.
In the editing menu, look for the rotate button. Each click should rotate 90 degrees. Keep flipping until your video looks right.
When done, hit Save a copy. Make sure not to overwrite the original unless you want to, because sometimes the rotation doesn’t stick the first time.

Yeah, on some machines this fails the first time, then works after a reboot or trying again. Not sure why it’s so flaky — Windows has to make it annoying, of course. But if the rotation isn’t saving properly in Photos, don’t fret. We’ll try plan B.

Method 2: Use Command Line Tools for Better Control

If the Photos app just won’t cooperate or you need something more reliable, turning to command-line tools like FFmpeg can do the trick. FFmpeg is free and super powerful, and it works on pretty much every OS. The downside? It’s command-based, so a little intimidating if you’re not used to terminals. But hey, once you get the hang of it, it’s fast and doesn’t mess around with your video quality.

Here’s what to do:

Download FFmpeg from the official site: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html.
Extract it, then open PowerShell or Command Prompt in that folder. You can do this by Shift + Right-click inside the folder and choose Open PowerShell window here.
Use the following command to rotate your video 90 degrees clockwise:

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

Replace input.mp4 with your filename, and choose a new name for the rotated output. You can also rotate by 180 or flip vertically/horizontally with other transpose options — just check the FFmpeg docs or run ffmpeg -filters | findstr transpose to see all options.

This method is more reliable for batch processing or if frequent rotation is needed. It also leaves your original untouched, so no accidental overwrites.

Method 3: Try a Dedicated Video Editor

If you’re doing this a lot or want more control, there are free editors like VLC or Shotcut. VLC is especially weird but surprisingly capable:

Open VLC, go to Media > Open File and pick your video.
Once loaded, go to Tools > Effects and Filters.
In the Video Effects tab, look for the Geometry section.
Check Transform or Rotate, then pick your angle.
To save this, you’ll finally need to convert/export the video with the orientation fixed — a bit more fiddly, but it works.

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From what I’ve seen, the built-in app isn’t always reliable, especially for videos that aren’t in MP4 format or if they’re a bit quirky. The command-line approach feels more dependable, and dedicated editors give you options for more complex edits.

Summary

Try the Photos app first — but expect some flaky results sometimes.
Use FFmpeg command-line for more control and batch processing.
Or fire up VLC for quick manual rotate-and-export tries.

Wrap-up

Rotating videos can be surprisingly frustrating, especially when the tools seem designed to confuse you. But with a bit of patience — and maybe a quick trip to download FFmpeg — the rotation gets sorted out. Sometimes Windows just chooses not to cooperate, but that doesn’t mean the video has to stay sideways forever. Hopefully, this shaves off a few hours for someone. Good luck flipping those videos!