Rotate and Flip Video with FFmpeg Transpose

This article explains how to use the transpose video filter in FFmpeg to rotate a video clockwise and flip it simultaneously. You will find the exact command-line syntax and the specific parameters required to achieve different rotation and flipping combinations quickly.

To rotate a video 90 degrees clockwise and flip it vertically, you can use the built-in transpose filter with the value 3 (also known as clock_flip).

Here is the basic command to perform this action:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "transpose=3" output.mp4

Understanding the Transpose Filter Values

The transpose filter accepts specific numerical values (0 to 3) to perform pre-defined rotation and flip combinations:

• 0: Rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise and flip vertically.
• 1: Rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
• 2: Rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise.
• 3: Rotate 90 degrees clockwise and flip vertically.

How to Rotate Clockwise and Flip Horizontally

If you want to rotate the video 90 degrees clockwise and flip it horizontally instead of vertically, you can chain the transpose filter with the hflip filter:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "transpose=1,hflip" output.mp4

Optimizing the Command

To speed up the process, you can copy the audio stream without re-encoding it by using the -c:a copy parameter:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "transpose=3" -c:a copy output.mp4