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I'd like to use HandBrake to compress some video that was taken via a camera that was mounted upside down.

I found a reference to a command-line rotate option, but I can't find it in the GUI.

Am I just missing it?

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  • For people viewing this question in 2021+, you can now do this via the GUI instead of the command line. I've posted an answer below that shows how to do it in the latest version (1.4.2). However, since the GUI option was very buggy when it was first introduced, be sure to update your version of Handbrake before trying to use it. Nov 5, 2021 at 18:42

9 Answers 9

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On the Extra Options under Video tab put , --rotate=4 to rotate clockwise by 90 or , --rotate=7 for 90 counterclockwise.

Note: It will not work without the preceding comma and space.

(As of version 0.10.2.7286)

----Edit: as of 0.10.5.x

90 degrees counterclockwise

, --rotate=8

90 degrees clockwise

, --rotate=3
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  • 3
    worked like a charm :) Maybe the comma works like closing the x264 options and add it to the other one (like SQL injection)
    – keiki
    Dec 12, 2013 at 20:03
  • 2
    This worked! Needs more upvotes.
    – dtbarne
    Feb 6, 2014 at 2:25
  • 8
    , --rotate=7 rotates 90 degrees anticlockwise for me on Windows 7
    – Rob
    May 9, 2014 at 21:09
  • 10
    This is probably the best answer. Agreed; it should be upvoted to the top. It works with all the other GUI options. I was able to use , --rotate=3 for a 180 degree rotation.
    – mkasberg
    May 18, 2014 at 1:10
  • 3
    This is actually pretty funny; it works as an injection attack against the HandBrake GUI. The current Windows GUI works by constructing a long query string for the CLI. Since the "extra options" string for video isn't enclosed in quotes, you can close out the "extra options" section and just start putting in whatever command-line parameters you want. That's how this is working. Theoretically you could add whatever CLI parameters you want here. (At least until this is fixed)
    – RandomEngy
    Jun 15, 2014 at 18:08
23

From the Handbrake documentation:

    --rotate            Flips images axes
      <M>               (default 3)

To rotate 90° I used:

HandBrakeCLI -i source -o target.m4v --preset="Universal" --rotate="4"

with success. No luck getting this to work from the GUI.

note: I'm not sure why the above referenced blog post says:

a value of 1 flips on X, 2 flips on Y, and 3 flips on X and Y.

"3" is said to be default and as such should do no rotation at all. I've found this to be true.


info added by sorein:

HandBrake documentation: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide

Sintax:
, --rotate=n
(comma and space needed)
It has to be entered in the tab VIDEO / EXTRA OPTIONS

Behaviour of "n"
The management of the ROTATE option is chaotic. It mixes FLIP and ROTATE!

1 : x flip
2 : y flip
3 : 180 degrees rotate (also the DEFAULT)
4 : 90 degrees rotate (clockwise)
5 : 90 degrees rotate + y flip
6 : 270 degrees rotate + y flip
7 : 270 degrees rotate

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  • that works for me on osx
    – timaschew
    May 15, 2014 at 19:01
  • Note, handbrake CLI does not come with handbrake, it is a separate download
    – deweydb
    May 21, 2014 at 22:24
  • 3
    Worked in Ubuntu 12.04 for me. (with Handbrake CLI only). the Options in the Video tab in the gui didn't appear to work for me. Sep 6, 2014 at 23:58
  • I'm in the same boat. --rotate="3" flipped my move 180 degrees, but only if I used the CLI version of the tool.
    – Tom Purl
    Nov 12, 2016 at 21:55
  • In newer version the argument is --rotate=angle=90 (tested on Mac OSX)
    – Panayotis
    Jul 19, 2017 at 15:55
14

From a recent post iPhone video rotation (and compression)

HandBrake (or at least the GUI) does not offer a way to rotate video. The HandBrake CLI does have a "rotate" option, however I found it is not a true rotation. Rather, it simply flips on an axis. The documentation is poor, but I found that a value of 1 flips on X, 2 flips on Y, and 3 flips on X and Y. So using a value of 3 is the same as doing a 180° rotation, which is useful for videos that are upside down, but not for videos that are sideways.

mencoder can do proper rotation.

While this refers to a Mac OS-X platform, I guess it should work for you too. Find a mencoder binary for your platform.

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  • 1
    I am just asking about flipping the video. Is this option in the handbrake GUI anywhere?
    – nonot1
    May 3, 2012 at 2:35
  • I couldn't find the rotate option in the GUI either. If you set everything else up and then "Add To Queue" when you "Show Queue" there is an option to create a batch script of the full queue. Do that then edit the batch file and add --rotate to the files that you want rotated. Then just run the bat file. This avoids most of the work of building up the command line
    – Craig
    Dec 31, 2012 at 22:29
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    Command line options that are not visible in the GUI can be entered in the text box under the advanced tab.
    – user199190
    Feb 14, 2013 at 11:03
  • @Matt That text box seems to be for x264 options, not Handbrake options.
    – duozmo
    Apr 14, 2013 at 0:17
8

Full disclosure: VidCoder author here.

An alternative might be to use the latest VidCoder beta, which uses the HandBrake engine and has in-GUI support for rotation and reflection (with previews):

VidCoder rotation example

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  • 1
    Wow, VidCoder really fixed my problem to rotate 180 a video. Thanks.
    – Matt Roy
    Nov 26, 2016 at 23:54
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Note that as of Win x64 version 1.0.7 (and possibly earlier 1.0 versions), there is now a Rotate option under Filters, with the same 0/90/180/270 options that the CLI currently provides.

enter image description here

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  • The GUI option is definitely a huge improvement, although the first implementation wasn't working correctly. I've posted an updated version below for Handbrake 1.4.2, which still has some issues but isn't quite as buggy. Nov 5, 2021 at 18:39
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I've tried putting

-7 --rotate <3>

into the box in the Video tab under Optimise Video: Extra Options box.

It worked and flipped my video on the XY axis (180 degree rotation).

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  • This works, thanks! Much better than having to switch to another tool. Oct 9, 2013 at 9:44
  • I tried that in the Mac Handbrake, but it didn't work. I noticed that the added options build the "x264 unparse" string, so I tried also in the format separated with colons, e.g. "7:rotate=3" and variations. Does anybody know how to effect this on the Mac?
    – ttarchala
    Nov 16, 2013 at 13:35
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    In Linux this doesn't work. Apr 10, 2014 at 9:18
  • In Windows (Win 7), it works perfectly for me, thank you. My iOS isn't smart enough to realize how I'm holding my phone when I start recording video - yet, when played back on my phone, it knows to rotate it 180 - so annoying!
    – MikeTeeVee
    Sep 1, 2014 at 21:09
  • I tried the same with <4> for 90° clockwise rotation but it will still do 180°...
    – Redoman
    Jun 18, 2015 at 18:22
1

In Winx64 0.9.9.5530 the syntax is:

rotate=3

No leading or trailing comma, space, etc.

0

The command line options posted above no longer appear to work, but a Rotation dropdown has been added to the GUI.

The first implementation of this option appears to have been buggy, so be sure to:

  • Update Handbrake to version 1.4.2 or higher.

Once you've done that, you can:

  • Go to the Dimensions tab and change the Rotation value to 90, 180, or 270.

However, Handbrake still has a weird bug/quirk where, if you attempt to set it to 90 or 270, it will clamp both dimensions at the lower value. So, for example, your rotated 1920x1080 video will get exported at 1080x1080 instead of 1080x1920.

To fix that, you can:

  1. Uncheck the Optimal Size box.
  2. Check the Allow Upscaling box.
  3. Manually set the Scaled Size to the correct resolution.

enter image description here

After that, your video should be exported with the correct rotation and resolution. That said, be sure to double check the exported video to make sure that it looks correct.

0

I just used v1.5.1 of HandBrake to rotate a .mov file and output it as an .mp4. In the Dimensions tab I just used the Rotation dropdown, in my case changing it from 0 to 270 (other options are 90 and 180).

Setting rotation on the Dimensions tab

You can checkout a preview of the rotation on the Summary tab.

Preview rotated video on Summary tab

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