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I need to rotate some .MOV videos to the left. Easiest way of doing so?

iRock1

iRock1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
1,082
144
Hi,

I have several .MOV files, recorded with an iPhone, in my Lightroom library. Some of these need to be rotated to the left, but the program doesn’t have any edit features.

I’ve seen that QuickTime has an option to do so, but when I tried it, and after saving those videos a new files, I’ve found that the resulting files are half the size of the original ones, which obviously means there is some quality lost. And I even tried to go to File>Export>1080 instead of using the Save option, hoping that that would solve the issue, but the result is still the same.

I don’t want to use complicated tools to do something so simple. Am I missing something with QuickTime? What other options do I have?
 
I suspect that you think rotating a video 90 degrees is as simple as it sounds.
Saying it is the simple part. The software has to shift all those bits, and figure out how to fit them in a new aspect ratio, among other, certainly not-too-simple, tasks that have to happen, and I am pretty sure that you will have quality loss as a result.
You would likely need to use those "complicated tools" - - some pro-level editor to try to mitigate those losses.
 
DeltaMac said:
I suspect that you think rotating a video 90 degrees is as simple as it sounds.
Saying it is the simple part. The software has to shift all those bits, and figure out how to fit them in a new aspect ratio, among other, certainly not-too-simple, tasks that have to happen, and I am pretty sure that you will have quality loss as a result.
You would likely need to use those "complicated tools" - - some pro-level editor to try to mitigate those losses.
Click to expand...

Pro-level editors like?
 
(?) it's an easy search :cool::
(in no particular order)
iMovie (you may already have this, it's a free download for your Mac, and may do everything you need)
Final Cut Pro X
Adobe Premier
Avid Media Composer
DaVinci Resolve Studio
OpenShot Video Editor (another free one)
Blender
(there's more out there, search for yourself)
Some are free, others are - not so free :rolleyes:
 
iRock1 said:
I’ve seen that QuickTime has an option to do so, but when I tried it, and after saving those videos a new files, I’ve found that the resulting files are half the size of the original ones, which obviously means there is some quality lost.
Click to expand...
Are you going from landscape to portrait? That would explain the drop in file size.

Do you see any visible difference in quality? If not, you’re wasting time trying to keep the size similar.

Rotating it will have an affect on size as it has to transcode (re-encode) it. The quality will never be 100% the same as the original.
 
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You can use the free and open source VLC player to rotate videos.

Open up your video file, and apply a Rotation Filter (Tools -> Effects and Filters -> Video Effects (tab) -> Geometry (section) -> Toggle Rotation and set the rotation you'd like.

Then close that menu, go File -> Convert / Save...

"Add" the file, click "Convert / Save", then select the output file type, then click the little wrench icon next to the file type to bring up the conversion settings... Under the Video Codec tab of the settings, select the "Filters" sub-tab, and scroll down to "Rotate Video Filter" and check it.

Then convert the file and it should apply the same video rotation filter as what's currently set (from the first step).

Keep in mind that when you open the video to verify it, if you open it in VLC the rotation effect should still be on there, so you have to remove it (else it will look twice rotated).
 
QuarterSwede said:
Are you going from landscape to portrait? That would explain the drop in file size.

Do you see any visible difference in quality? If not, you’re wasting time trying to keep the size similar.

Rotating it will have an affect on size as it has to transcode (re-encode) it. The quality will never be 100% the same as the original.
Click to expand...

Hi,

The video is in portrait mode, then it needs to be rotated to the left, i.e. landscape.
 
Zlobnick said:
Quicktime 7, open your movie, press CMD+J, click on the Video track, click Visual settings, rotate from there, close Properties and save (as).
Click to expand...
Note that Quicktime 7 is legacy software and is not shipped with recent macOS. The Quicktime in macOS is useless for video editing.
 
QuarterSwede said:
Are you going from landscape to portrait? That would explain the drop in file size.

Do you see any visible difference in quality? If not, you’re wasting time trying to keep the size similar.

Rotating it will have an affect on size as it has to transcode (re-encode) it. The quality will never be 100% the same as the original.
Click to expand...

In the end I just used QuickTime. There doesn't seem to be any noticeable loss in image quality, but still I wanted to be sure. I mean, I totally get that the resulting file won't be the same size than the original, but almost half of its size? I thought that was at least a little bit dubious.
 
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TheAppleFairy said:
90 degrees counter clockwise, to the left could be confusing. The top would be going left and the bottom to the right.
Click to expand...

That's it. Thanks for the translation, though I'm using exactly the same terms of QuickTime's menu.
 
iRock1 – I don't know whether this still matters to you, but rotating movie files is built into the Finder in macOS Mojave. I'm not sure whether it works with every single movie file, but when it does work, the file size appears unchanged and the process is practically instantaneous.

FBP40R
 
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