25

I'd like to rotate video (mp4) by 180 degrees, but not flip. Is it possible to do it with avconv?

Improve this question
1
  • I found with both existing answers that theywork with the MP4 files from a Hero 3 camera, but only after I added -c:a copy to the command (just before the output filename). I also found that the second version was indistinguishable quality, but about 50% faster than the chained translate version. – Simon Dec 30 '13 at 15:48
31

It is possible using the transpose video filter. You cannot rotate by 180 degrees, but you can rotate by 90 degrees and chain the filter.

avconv -i video.mp4 -vf transpose=1,transpose=1 out.mkv

See transpose in the avconv manpage: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/avconv.1.html

Improve this answer
2
  • This rotated my video, but the quality drop (resolution and framerate) was massive (iphone .mov file). – Gringo Suave Jan 6 '14 at 21:14
  • 1
    transpose=clock works now see my answer – Elder Geek Feb 27 '17 at 17:05
15

Yes, but you'll need to add some additional options to your command for it to work properly. Transpose and vflip/hflip should do the trick, but if you don't tell avconv more detail about what you want, you'll likely get very low quality output try:

 avconv -i original.mp4 -vf "hflip,vflip" -codec:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 20 -codec:a copy flipped.mp4

Notice the -crf option. That sets the output quality. It goes from 0 (lossless) upwards logarithmically. You'll probably want a value between 19 and 25 in most cases. -preset sets the speed of the encoding, either "slow", "medium", or "fast". Slow should get you smaller file sizes with an obvious tradeoff. You should adjust -codec:v to match the original. If you don't set these options you'll get the defaults, which don't work well when flipping iphone video.

Improve this answer
3
  • Unrecognized option 'preset' Failed to set value 'slow' for option 'preset' That's what I got – Karel Bílek May 12 '14 at 14:16
  • ...and without it, I got Unknown encoder 'libx264' – Karel Bílek May 12 '14 at 14:17
  • 1
    apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 solved it – Karel Bílek May 12 '14 at 14:21
6

Additional method with avconv is to use vflip and hflip filters. Should run faster and maybe better quality:

avconv -i video.mp4 -vf vflip,hflip out.mp4
Improve this answer
2
  • Same: This rotated my video, but the quality drop (resolution and framerate) was massive (iphone .mov file). – Gringo Suave Jan 6 '14 at 21:14
  • 1
    @GringoSuave wcarlson has given you a stripped down example, you still need to add all the -codec:v ... and other tags – v010dya Nov 10 '14 at 18:24
1

I did this:

avconv -i invertedOne.mp4 -c:a copy -vf "hflip,vflip" rightOne.mp4

Full HD video, great results with non perceivable quality loss

Improve this answer
1
  • Pure gold for avconv version 11.12-6:11.12-1~deb8u9, except that I desired a 90-degree clockwise rotation, so I replaced "hflip,vflip" with transpose=clock. – Digger Nov 13 '20 at 16:43
1

For avconv or ffmpeg Under 14.04 or later

There have been some changes to the libav documentation since @phoibos quality answer to this question. You can rotate a video 180 degrees avoiding flipping entirely by chaining 2 90 degree commands together (separated by a comma) I accomplished this with the command

avconv -i inputfile -vf transpose=clock,transpose=clock outputfile

for clockwise rotation.

in ffmpeg the syntax is the same.

ffmpeg -i inputfile -vf transpose=clock,transpose=clock outputfile

where inputfile is your supported input video file and outputfile is your desired output file.

For counter clockwise rotation replace clock with cclock

Sources:

https://libav.org/avconv.html#transpose

Testing on Ubuntu 14.04.5 and 16.04 LTS

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.