How to rotate a picture
- Choose the direction: 90° clockwise turns the top of the picture to the right, 90° anticlockwise turns it to the left, and 180° turns it upside down.
- Add your photos by choosing them or dropping them on the box above.
- Download the rotated images. Tap a thumbnail to compare before and after.
If you’re not sure which way to turn a sideways photo, look at where the top of the scene is. If it points left, rotate clockwise; if it points right, rotate anticlockwise.
Rotate or flip?
| Option | What it does | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| 90° clockwise / anticlockwise | Turns the picture a quarter turn | Sideways phone and camera photos |
| 180° | Turns it upside down | Photos taken with the camera held upside down, scans fed in the wrong way |
| Flip horizontally | Mirrors left and right | Selfies with backwards text, matching a subject’s direction |
| Flip vertically | Mirrors top and bottom | Reflections, special layouts |
Sideways photos and EXIF orientation
Cameras and phones usually save every photo in the sensor’s landscape orientation, then add an EXIF orientation tag that says “show this turned 90°”. Phones, Windows Photos and modern browsers follow the tag, but many websites, email clients, older software and print services don’t. That’s why a photo can look right on your phone and sideways after uploading.
This tool reads the orientation tag first, then applies your rotation and saves the pixels in their final position. The saved image has no orientation note left to misread, so it displays the same everywhere.
Formats and quality
Images keep their format: a JPG stays a JPG, a PNG stays a PNG and WebP stays WebP. AVIF, BMP and GIF images are saved as PNG, which every app can open. GIF animations keep only their first frame. Transparent areas in PNG and WebP images stay transparent.
Privacy
Photos are rotated with your browser’s own image engine. They never leave your device, so it’s safe for personal photos and documents.
Questions
Why does my photo look upright on my phone but sideways elsewhere?
Phones often save photos in the sensor's orientation and add a note (an EXIF orientation tag) telling apps to turn them. Apps that ignore the note show the photo sideways. This tool applies the note first and saves the pixels the right way round, so the photo is upright everywhere.
Does rotating reduce the quality?
PNG and WebP images rotate without any loss. JPG photos are re-saved at high quality (92%), which isn't visibly different from the original.
Can I rotate several photos at once?
Yes. Choose the rotation, then add as many photos as you like. They're all turned the same way and can be downloaded together as a ZIP.
What's the difference between rotating and flipping?
Rotating turns the whole picture around its centre, as if you turned a printed photo on the table. Flipping mirrors it, so text reads backwards; that's useful for selfies, which phone cameras often save mirrored.
Last reviewed 5 November 2026