Tips & Tricks

I can’t rotate a video in Windows Media Player. What should I do?

We watch videos all the time, but sometimes, for various reasons, we end up with some clips in a weird position. They’re either upside down or reversed to the left or right, which makes them a bit difficult to watch. Unless you’re watching them on a smartphone or tablet and you can easily rotate the screen.

But what happens if you’re doing this on a PC?

Unfortunately, you can’t rotate a video in Windows Media Player, since it doesn’t have this feature, so if you don’t have any additional player installed on your PC, you’re kind of stuck with a video in a wrong position. But don’t panic, as we have the solution for you. Solutions, actually!

Rotate a video in Windows Movie Maker instructions

First thing first, we’re going to start with instructions for a Microsoft basic program. As mentioned above, you cannot rotate a video in Windows Media Player, since this feature is not supported.

Therefore, for this, you’re going to need good ol’ Windows Movie Maker. Even though it’s been a few years since it was discontinued, you can still download it and install it on Windows 10 or earlier versions. For example, you can get it from here, 100% safe and secure.

Windows Movie Maker

After installing the software, follow these steps:

  • Open Windows Movie Maker
  • Go to Add, on the upper-left side of the window and click on Add videos and photos. This should open a new window
  • Add the video file you want to rotate and click on open. Your video should open in Windows Movie Maker
  • Go to the toolbar and click on the Editing section
  • Here you will find two options, Rotate left and Rotate right. Depending on the position of your video, click on it until you put it in the right position
  • After setting the right position, click on file, in the upper-left corner
  • Click on Save movie. A pop-out window should appear
  • From the window, select Recommended for this project
  • Enter your movie’s new title
  • Go to the bottom-right corner of the window and click Save.
  • Done! Your movie will now be rotated

Rotate a video in VLC Player instructions

If you don’t want to install Windows Movie Maker for this and figured out that you can’t rotate a video in Windows Media Player, maybe you can try a different player. Like VLC Player, for example, which is one of the most popular options of the moment.

VLC Player

The software provides a few simple video editing tools, video rotation included. See, this is why is so great! Presuming that you already have it installed, you can follow these steps:

  • Open VLC Player
  • Go to the Media menu, in the upper-left corner and click on it
  • Select Open File and pick the video file you want to rotate
  • Click on Open. The file should be now in VLC Player
  • Go to the menu bar and select Tools
  • Click on Effects and Filters > Adjustments and Effects > Geometry. Here you should see the video rotation settings
  • From the drop-down list, pick the option your video requires, depending on its rotation
  • When you’re done with putting the video in the right position, click on Save
  • You’re done. Now you can watch the video with Windows Media Player if you’re not a fan of VLC Player

Rotate a video in KMPlayer instructions

Finally, we have another alternative for those who cannot rotate a video in Windows Media Player. KMPlayer is not also great at playing WMV files on iPad, but it can also help you with fixing videos.

KMPlayer

The procedure is pretty much similar to other players, except the fact that the menu is a bit different. Specifically, in order to rotate a video, you need to follow these steps

  • Open KMPlayer
  • Press Ctrl+O, in order to open the video file you want to rotate
  • Select the video and click Open. The video should now be in KMPlayer
  • Right click anywhere in the video. This will open the editing menu
  • Select Video (Basic) > Screen Rotation (CCW). From here, select the rotating option and put the video in the right position
  • Look at the Control box, in the bottom left corner, and click on it
  • Go to the Preferences tab, and look for Sore settings to KMPCfg.in and check it
  • Save the settings
  • You’ve rotated the video successfully! You can now open it with any player you want and it will display correctly

And there you have it, ladies and gentleman! These are three solutions, easy to apply, in case you can’t rotate a video in Windows Media Player.

Which one of these is your favorite? Let us know, using the comments section below!

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