Rotating and Changing Aspect Ratio

[meeshu]

I have downloaded a video from youtube that I wish to rotate the images and change it's aspect ratio.

The original video appears to have been recorded on a cellphone in portrait mode; the resulting video is a narrow image that looks like you are looking out through a letterbox opening that has been turned sideways. Additionally, the video images appear to have been rotated to the left 90°(!!??).

Here is the mediainfo for the video -

General
Complete name                            : G:\Lavender Hill  Illegally park   14_05_21 part 2-XJnY-_oC_Ng.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size                                : 86.8 MiB
Duration                                 : 14 min 53 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 815 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56
gsst                                     : 0
gstd                                     : 893945

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3
Format settings                          : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 3 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 14 min 53 s
Bit rate                                 : 683 kb/s
Width                                    : 406 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 0.564
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.078
Stream size                              : 72.8 MiB (84%)
Title                                    : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc. Created on: 05/15/2021.
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Codec configuration box                  : avcC

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 14 min 53 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 128 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 13.6 MiB (16%)
Title                                    : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc. Created on: 05/15/2021.
Language                                 : English
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56
Tagged date                              : UTC 2021-05-15 23:53:56

What are the best video editing software that allows this video to be rotated (90° to the right) AND adjust the video aspect ratio to 4:3 (1.3333)?

Freeware software is preferred, but might have access to some payware/professional software if really necessary.

Thanks for any and all constructive comments.

[Alwyn]

What's the YT link?

[meeshu]

This video here

[jagabo]

After downloading the video use ffmpeg to set the rotation flag:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=-90 output.mp4

It will still be 16:9 though. If you really want 4:3 you can crop but you'll have to reencode:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf crop=1080:1440:0:240,rotate=90*PI/180:ow=1440:oh=1080 output2.mp4

[Alwyn]

@jagabo, I can't get that second script to work; it gives me a zero byte file. The first works well.

[jagabo]

@jagabo, I can't get that second script to work; it gives me a zero byte file. The first works well.

I tested the command line on the video downloaded from youtube just before posting it. And I just tested it again (copying and pasting from the post) just now. It works fine. Is your input file 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels tall? A smaller may fail.

[meeshu]

Thanks for all the comments!

. . . Is your input file 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels tall? A smaller may fail.

What does this ^ mean? If input file size (pixels) is smaller than 1080W x 1920H, why should the conversion fail?

Thanks.

[jagabo]

Thanks for all the comments!

. . . Is your input file 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels tall? A smaller may fail.

What does this ^ mean? If input file size (pixels) is smaller than 1080W x 1920H, why should the conversion fail?

The crop filter is used to reduce the frame from 1080x1920 to 1080x1440. Cropping requires that the output area come from inside the source frame. The arguments to the crop filter are the width and height of the cropped area and and x,y offset within the source. So this is a legal crop:

-vf crop=out_w:out_h:x:y

  0,0                          iw
    +--------------------------+
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |     x,y                  |
    |       +---------+        |
    |       |   ow    |        |
    |       |         |        |
    |       | oh      |        |
    |       |         |        |
    |       |         |        |
    |       +---------+        |
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |                          |
 ih +--------------------------+

but if the source is too small you will get an illegal crop:

  0,0                          iw
    +--------------------------+
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |                          |
    |     x,y                  |
    |       +---------+        |
    |       |   ow    |        |
    |       |         |        |
    |       | oh      |        |
 ih +-------|         |--------+
            |         |         
            +---------+

ffmpeg will give an error message and abort.

I knew the values to use to get a 4:3 frame from the middle of a 1920x1080 or 1080x1920 frame. And the video I downloaded from youtube was the latter of those two sizes. So I gave a command line specifically for that frame size.

[meeshu]

Thanks for the excellent and detailed reply!!

[abolibibelot]

It has to be said that the content of the video is totally hallucinatory, regardless of the 90° rotation... In what country do the cops stand by like this with a man behaving like that, with such an outspoken and confrontational attitude, plus a recording device ? Back in 2002 in south France I spent 14 hours in a jail cell for much, much less than that (was arrested for driving – unknowingly, at night, in a new town where I got lost trying to get back home in a lousy district – on a bus-only lane, arrest took abnormally long with no explanation, so I got pissed for about 30 seconds before being given the choke-hold treatment), and got sued for “outrage et rébellion”, it lasted 4 years until a final verdict came and I had to pay in the hundreds as “préjudice moral” (psychological damage) to the 3 cops involved (even though I also had to pay the psychological price since the whole ordeal was the final straw which made me stop college education – which ironically was considered an aggravating circumstance at the trial).