How to Rotate a Zoom or Teams Meeting Recording

Zoom cloud recordings and Microsoft Teams meeting recordings are saved as MP4 files. Sometimes they come out sideways — particularly when a presenter shared their phone camera in portrait orientation, or when the recording was initiated from a mobile device held incorrectly. Neither platform has a built-in rotate-and-save feature. Export the MP4, rotate externally, re-share.

The Rotate Video tool handles this in about a minute depending on recording length.

Why Zoom and Teams Recordings End Up Sideways

• Mobile presenter shared portrait video: When a participant shares their phone camera in portrait mode, Zoom and Teams sometimes save the recording using the portrait dimensions, which look sideways on a desktop playback.
• Meeting recorded from phone: If the host initiated the recording from the Zoom or Teams mobile app, orientation depends on how the phone was held.
• Screen share of a rotated window: Presenting a document or video that was itself rotated can produce a recording that follows the source orientation.
• External camera feeds: Document cameras, webcams mounted at unusual angles, or capture devices with incorrect orientation settings can produce sideways video in the recording.

Downloading the MP4 from Zoom or Teams

Zoom:

1. Cloud recordings: go to zoom.us/recording, find the meeting, click Download on the MP4 file
2. Local recordings: find the .mp4 file in your configured recording folder (usually Documents/Zoom/)

Microsoft Teams:

1. Teams saves recordings to OneDrive or SharePoint depending on tenant settings
2. Navigate to the recording in OneDrive, click the three-dot menu, Download

Both produce MP4 files compatible with our rotation tool.

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Rotate and Share the Corrected Version

1. Open the Rotate Video tool
2. Drop the MP4 from Zoom or Teams
3. Click the rotation (usually 90 CCW or 90 CW depending on which way it came out sideways)
4. Download the rotated MP4
5. Share the corrected version with meeting attendees via email, OneDrive, or your company file share

For Zoom cloud recordings, you can also upload the corrected version back to Zoom Cloud as a new recording, though this is rarely necessary — most organizations share the MP4 directly.

Handling Long Meeting Recordings

A one-hour Zoom recording at HD resolution is typically 300-500MB. A two-hour training at HD can be 800MB-1GB. These are manageable by browser processing on modern devices, but processing time scales with file size.

For faster processing, consider trimming the recording first:

1. Use the Trim Video tool to cut the recording to just the relevant section (e.g., the actual presentation, not the 15-minute wait before people joined)
2. Rotate the trimmed section
3. Share only the trimmed-and-rotated version

This is also better for viewers — they get a focused video instead of a full meeting with 20 minutes of "waiting for people to join" at the start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Zoom rotate recordings in the cloud?

No. Zoom has no built-in post-recording rotation. You must download the MP4, rotate externally, and optionally re-share.

Does Teams have a rotate option for recordings?

No. Microsoft Teams does not offer rotation for saved recordings. Download the MP4 from OneDrive and rotate with a separate tool.

Will rotating affect the audio?

No. Rotation affects the video track only. The audio plays unchanged.

Can I rotate a Zoom recording on my phone?

Yes. Download the MP4 to your phone, open the Rotate Video tool in Safari or Chrome, rotate, and save.