How to Rotate a Video 90 or 180 Degrees in Media Player Classic
I started shooting video on my mobile phone and noticed that if you shoot in a hurry and without paying attention, the video sometimes comes out upside down.
That raises a question: which player can rotate video by 90 and 180 degrees?
It turns out to be easy!
I use the K-Lite Codec Pack, usually the Standard or Full version.
Besides various codecs, the pack includes Media Player Classic (MPC), a pretty good video player.
MPC is simple and fast, and it has all the settings I need (for example audio normalization, subtitles, switching tracks, and video rotation!).
If you go looking for the rotate button in Media Player Classic, you can get lost in a jungle of checkboxes and settings, and we don’t need that.
Just remember this: the shortcut to rotate the video by 90 degrees is Alt + 3 on the numeric keypad (with Num Lock on).
So check that Num Lock is on (usually an LED lights up), then press Alt and 3 on the numeric keypad, and the video rotates by 90 degrees. Press it twice, and the video rotates by 180 degrees. Quick and easy!
If rotation doesn’t work, check what is selected in the player’s settings under DirectShow Video. The selected renderer should have the word “Rotate” written in green.
If it isn’t there, switch the renderer and restart the player.
Now another question comes up: how do you save the rotated video?
I tried VirtualDub, which can do it, but it wouldn’t open mp4 files, and that is usually the format phones shoot in.
Another simple way: install Movie Maker from Windows Essentials, where you can open, rotate, and save the video in literally three clicks. (Windows Essentials is discontinued, but old installers still work on Windows 7 and 8.)
I don’t like modifying the original video (to avoid spoiling it or changing its quality), so I prefer to rotate the video during playback without saving, using a player with rotation. Let the video stay in its original format. Or you could learn to use a powerful video editor, but that’s a different song.
