There are multiple ways of going about tackling this issue. As you can imagine, there are better ways of solving this inconvenience than tilting your head or rotating the computer’s screen. Unfortunately, there isn’t a native way of rotating the video in Windows Media Player. This is a little odd considering that the issue has been around for years with countless user complains about Microsoft’s servers. Despite this, Microsoft still hasn’t implemented a native way of rotating a video in Windows Media Player. As a result, the only way to correct a video that was filmed sideways on Windows is to use a 3rd party solution. Fortunately, there’s a whole variety of feasible solutions, so we’ve taken the liberty putting together a guide with curated methods that will work without problems. Please follow whichever method seems more accessible to you.
Method 1: Using Windows Movie Maker
This method used to be the defacto way of rotating a video for Windows Media Player. It involves using Windows Movie Maker (part of the Windows Essentials 2012 suite). Unfortunately, Microsoft ended support on the whole suite on January 10, 2010, and removed all official download links as a result. Luckily, Movie Maker enthusiasts are still able to use the software if it was already downloaded on their system or if they manage to find an offline installer. This method is probably the easiest option out of the bunch, but it will take a while to set up Windows Movie Maker if you don’t already have it installed. If you want to edit your rotate your video using Windows Movie Maker or you’re looking for a way to get the software back, follow the steps below. But keep in mind that the whole process will take up some time. The following guide will work on any Windows version. Here’s what you need to do: Note: If you already have Windows Movie Maker installed, please skip the first two steps.
Method 2: Using VLC Media Player
If you want to avoid going through the hassle of installing a software that is no longer supported, you can try a solution was developed outside of Microsoft’s ecosystem. VLC is a free open source media player with a built-in codec support for just about every video format you can find. But if you watch movies on your PC, chances are you already have it installed. Rotating a video in VLC is not as easy as it is in Movie Maker, but don’t get demotivated as you’ll only have to do a couple of extra steps. Follow the steps below to rotate the video in VLC and prepare it for Windows Media Player: Note: Keep in mind that you might need to update your VLC version in order to access the rotating feature.
Method 3: Using a video converter
If you didn’t fancy the first two methods, you can also make use of a more focused solution. Almost every video converting software currently on the market is capable of changing the orientation of a badly recorded video. You don’t even have to spend any money since most video converters will have an orientation changing feature in the free version. We used a popular free solution called Freemake Video Converter, but you can go another route and use another option. Below you have a step by step guide to rotating the video for Windows Media Player using Freemake Video Converter. Here’s how:
Method 4: Using Online Rotator
If you only want to rotate one video every once in a while, downloading an entire application for it might seem troublesome. Instead, you can use one of the many online rotators which can instantly rotate the video after you upload it to their website. Here are some of the online converters: Online Convert Rotate Video Video Rotate Simply upload your file in the website and select the option of Rotate. After some processing, the modified video will be available for download.
Method 5: Using Photos Application
Microsoft released a video editing software shortly after it released the Photos application in Windows 10. This video editing application can easily rotate, crop, add text, and perform other basic video editing actions. However, it must be noted that sometimes the application doesn’t accept very large files (videos above 1 hour); but you can still try.
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