Windows Bulk rotate images/videos aka correct orientation without changing date parameters

nRiTeCh

Skilled
This requirement arose because on my recent tours my phones sensors went kaput for some reasons. Thus, in whichever mode I captured pics/vid they all got captured in portrait or tilted mode so want to correct the orientation.

I'm looking for a 3rd party tool for windows in which I can rotate captured images & videos but without modifying the date creation/modify attributes.

I can use the inbuilt windows Photos tool but it modifies the date to today as the file changes on this date.

Again, thats fine but then I need another tool to fix/edit manually to apply the original dates.

Suggest all in one free tool or mix of few tools will also do.

 
You can also try the "imagemagick" cli tool in a batch script, IIRC it has many options which might address your requirement.
 
Been using this for a while, portable image viewer/editor with a batch mode for resizing, orientation, meta-data and other changes

Issue is if I use Irfnview the file size reduces by few mbs while Windows Photos keeps the size intact.

Irfanview is a pain. Rotation axis not working as expected & during every conversion there's a loss of image file size...making a 9mb mage to 4mb or so without even delivering the selected/desired results!
 
Last edited:
Date is embedded in the image (or video) as an EXIF metadata and can be restorerd if metadata is not changed/removed. In android I know an app called "Image & Video Date Fixer". I am sure similar app can be found for desktop use as well.
 
Issue is if I use Irfnview the file ize reduces by few mbs while Windows Photos keeps the size intact.

Irfanview is a pain. Rotation axis not working as expected & during every conversion there's a loss of image file size...making a 9mb mage to 4mb or so without even delivering the selected/desired results!
You can always specify the compression type in the JPG options to avoid unnecessary compression.
Check out XNview as well
 
You can always specify the compression type in the JPG options to avoid unnecessary compression.
Check out XNview as well
I figured it out after few hours of fiddling and its only a PAIN!
The algorithm doesn't work as expected in Irfanview while in other imaging tools when we say R or L or flip, the image rotates exactly that way but here every time you have to try a different combo to get the image orientation right.

1678563083892.png
Now, just think this is what I had to do only to correct the image oientation to Right (to make it simple horizontal) Isn't this some stupidity ? Crappy algorithm is all I will label this logic of this tool.

Extremely tedious crap to play with.

Really need a true straight forward tool whose LOGIC works just as simple as stated rather than such Rnd!

Finally job got done after 4 hours.

Next is video rotation aka orientation correction.
 
I figured it out after few hours of fiddling and its only a PAIN!
The algorithm doesn't work as expected in Irfanview while in other imaging tools when we say R or L or flip, the image rotates exactly that way but here every time you have to try a different combo to get the image orientation right.

View attachment 162979 Now, just think this is what I had to do only to correct the image oientation to Right (to make it simple horizontal) Isn't this some stupidity ? Crappy algorithm is all I will label this logic of this tool.

Extremely tedious crap to play with.

Really need a true straight forward tool whose LOGIC works just as simple as stated rather than such Rnd!

Finally job got done after 4 hours.

Next is video rotation aka orientation correction.
Irfanview also has Rotate Clockwise - R and Counterclockwise - L if one image
1678567393377.png


If you're doing a batch, I do not understand why you're flipping everything when you can just do a 90, 180 or 270 rotate in the fine rotation setting here?
1678567513228.png
 
For lossless rotation use imagemagick for images & ffmpeg for videos

Why do you care about file modified date when both file name and EXIF have the date-time the photo was taken? Sorting by file name is also faster
 
For lossless rotation use imagemagick for images & ffmpeg for videos

Why do you care about file modified date when both file name and EXIF have the date-time the photo was taken? Sorting by file name is also faster
I have lacs and lacs of digital photos so cant open every file to peek into exif. The basic windows modified date details works great for my scenario.

Will try the ffmpeg today for videos.
If you're doing a batch, I do not understand why you're flipping everything when you can just do a 90, 180 or 270 rotate in the fine rotation setting here?
View attachment 162993
I referred to few tuts and photography forums and thats what they suggested.
I did tried the fine rotation thing but few pics got tilted to some 4-7 excess angles. So again the pain to manually recorrect base don angles which is an added pain further.

Anyways, now all pics are in proper orientation with no changes to any dates and exif which was my prime motive. But will keep exploring more such tools which provides hassle-free AIO things.

Poor pro. photographers too are struggling with such issues unfortunately.
 
I have lacs and lacs of digital photos so cant open every file to peek into exif.
I didn't ask you to. exiftool and LightRoom can read that and if your phone is not naming the photos in YYYY MM DD_HH MM SS format, you can do that using the EXIF.

For pics from cameras/phones that don't use the above naming format, I read the Date Taken field and rename the file to that. This allows me to merge pics from multiple cameras and have them all displayed chronologically.

screenshot_20230312125815.png

[DSLR pics renamed automagically to Date Taken]

And like I mentioned earlier, sorting by file name is way faster than on modified date/Date Taken. I also have lakhs of photos/videos archived and speaking from experience.

Poor pro. photographers too are struggling with such issues unfortunately.
Pro photographers would be working with RAW images which don't have orientation, just a rotation flag. They can always change rotation or level horizon while editing individual files.
 
I didn't ask you to. exiftool and LightRoom can read that and if your phone is not naming the photos in YYYY MM DD_HH MM SS format, you can do that using the EXIF.

For pics from cameras/phones that don't use the above naming format, I read the Date Taken field and rename the file to that. This allows me to merge pics from multiple cameras and have them all displayed chronologically.

View attachment 163009
[DSLR pics renamed automagically to Date Taken]

And like I mentioned earlier, sorting by file name is way faster than on modified date/Date Taken. I also have lakhs of photos/videos archived and speaking from experience.


Pro photographers would be working with RAW images which don't have orientation, just a rotation flag. They can always change rotation or level horizon while editing individual files.
I dont mess/fiddle with phones naming conventions. I keep it all stock As is!
I maintain different folders across devices but in same events folder so it becomes easy for me/family members to figure out which/what pics/vids were taken from which devices. And this pattern has been since 2 decades now so cant make any changes to the entire library with any new organizing pattern.
Everybody has their own idea of maintaining data and this is mine.
 
Last edited:
For anyone requiring bulk image conversion, and for future reference:
Fastone Photo Resizer does the trick, and many others. Lossless image rotate, being one of them. I am a bird watcher, and I personally use this to bulk crop bird pics, since the bird is usually at the center and really small in frame.

ACDSee Free also has the required feature.
 
For anyone requiring bulk image conversion, and for future reference:
Fastone Photo Resizer does the trick, and many others. Lossless image rotate, being one of them. I am a bird watcher, and I personally use this to bulk crop bird pics, since the bird is usually at the center and really small in frame.

ACDSee Free also has the required feature.
I use both tools since decades and already know they do the job but my priority was that to not impact date modified parameter.
 
Back
Top