How to Rotate a Photo’s Orientation

Tap a device to see how to do it.

iPhone

Open the photo in the Photos app, tap “Edit,” and tap the rotate icon to turn the image 90 degrees each time.

Android

In your gallery app’s edit menu, tap the rotate icon to turn the photo in the direction you want.

Windows

Open the image in the Photos app and click the rotate icon to turn it 90 degrees; the change saves automatically.

Mac

Open the photo in Preview and click the rotate icon in the toolbar to change its orientation.

Why photos end up sideways

If a device’s orientation sensor data gets recorded incorrectly at the moment a photo is taken, the image can appear rotated when opened in a different program.

No more tilting your head to view a photo

If a scanned document or a photo transferred from a particular device shows up flipped on its side, the rotate feature can fix it in just a couple of clicks.

Want to remove the background too?

It is also worth checking out how to remove the background from an image, for photos that need a bit more cleanup.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does rotating a photo reduce its original quality?

Most rotate features simply change the orientation data without re-processing the image, so there is no impact on quality.

Can I rotate several photos at once?

Selecting multiple photos in your gallery or file browser and running the rotate feature lets you rotate them all in a single action.