[Bug]: Portrait videos rotate on export

[ctiller15]

Package Version

12.0.0-beta.6

Flutter Version

Flutter 3.38.7

Platforms

iOS

How to reproduce?

• tested on iPhone 16 simulator, iOS 26.1

When trying to export a video in portrait, it gets rotated. At least one user has reported this issue so far. What causes this/is there a clear way to correct it?

Screen recording:
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5b8989cf-968c-4de5-a2eb-5b080fba5c29

Logs (optional)

flutter: media_kit: NativeReferenceHolder: Allocated 4353984512
flutter: VideoOutput.Resize
flutter: {rect: {left: 0.0, width: 0.0, top: 0.0, height: 0.0}, handle: 4380076160, id: 1}
flutter: NativeVideoController: Texture ID: 1
flutter: VideoOutput.Resize
flutter: {handle: 4380076160, id: 1, rect: {height: 1920.0, top: 0.0, left: 0.0, width: 1080.0}}

Example code (optional)

Demoed in the example application.

Device Model (optional)

iPhone 16, iOS 26.1 Also reported by a user on an iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 26.2

[hm21]

Thank you for reporting this issue.

Do you know what changes the users made to the video? For example, did they add text layers, filters, or use the crop editor? That information would help me reproduce the issue, as I can't reproduce it on the iPhone simulators.

[ctiller15]

In my case, (in the example video), I did it with no transformations on the video. As far as the user, it doesn't appear they used any transformations on the video either.

Of note is I did try the crop editor with the same video, it produced a similar result.

EDIT: I'm happy to provide the exact video used in the example if needed.

[hm21]

Thanks for the information. I guess the video you have here has special metadata that AvFoundation (used in iOS and macOS) cleans. I guess on android everything works fine with the same video, right?

Yes, I would appreciate it if you could share that video.

[ctiller15]

Thanks for the information. I guess the video you have here has special metadata that AvFoundation (used in iOS and macOS) cleans. I guess on android everything works fine with the same video, right?

Yes, I would appreciate it if you could share that video.

So I did try it on android recently, (pixel 9 simulator), - I'm running into a different issue where it appears to not show entirely. Currently trying to debug if that's just a problem on my end though.

As far as the video goes, it's publicly available in this drive link. (15.7Mb, slightly too large for GH.) Let me know if you need anything else!

[hayatkhan67]

This issue appears when importing 2K or 4K videos into the editor. Could you resolve it first?

IOS issue

[hm21]

Because I don't have much time, I've asked Copilot to search for a solution and create a PR. Could you test PR #755 to see if it fixes the issue for you? If so, I will merge it.

[hayatkhan67]

Because I don't have much time, I've asked Copilot to search for a solution and create a PR. Could you test PR #755 to see if it fixes the issue for you? If so, I will merge it.

not fixed

[hayatkhan67]

Root cause

On iOS, video_player can report a landscape resolution for portrait videos:

• video_player → Size(3840, 2160)
• Actual video (Photos app) → Size(2160, 3840)

Because pro_image_editor relies on the player’s aspect ratio, portrait videos are treated as landscape, which causes:

• Forced landscape preview
• Wrong export orientation
• Resolution splitting on export

This happens even when rotation == 0, so rotation metadata alone is not sufficient.

---

Preview fix (aspect mismatch detection)

Detect orientation mismatch by comparing:

• video_player aspect ratio
• Metadata aspect ratio

If they differ, swap width/height.

Size _getDisplayResolution() {
  final meta = _videoMetadata!;
  final playerAspect = _videoPlayerController!.value.aspectRatio;
  final metaAspect = meta.resolution.width / meta.resolution.height;

  // Aspect mismatch = rotated video
  if ((playerAspect - metaAspect).abs() > 0.01) {
    return Size(
      meta.resolution.height,
      meta.resolution.width,
    );
  }

  return meta.resolution;
}

Usage:

_proVideoController = ProVideoController(
  videoPlayer: _buildVideoPlayer(),
  initialResolution: _getDisplayResolution(),
  videoDuration: _videoMetadata!.duration,
  fileSize: _videoMetadata!.fileSize,
  thumbnails: thumbnails,
);

✅ Preview orientation is now correct.

---

Export fix (prevent resolution splitting)

Current export logic only checks rotation != 0, but in this case:

rotation: 0
resolution: 1080 x 1920
aspect ratio: 0.5625

So export skips transform even though orientation is wrong.

Fix: apply transform if either the editor transformed the video or rotation metadata exists.

final videoMetadata = await _proVideoEditor.getMetadata(video);

final shouldApplyTransform =
    parameters.isTransformed || videoMetadata.rotation != 0;

---

Fixed export code

final exportModel = VideoRenderData(
  id: taskId,
  shouldOptimizeForNetworkUse: true,
  video: video,
  bitrate: 2 * 1000 * 1000,
  outputFormat: VideoOutputFormat.mp4,
  enableAudio: enableAudio,
  imageBytes: parameters.layers.isNotEmpty ? parameters.image : null,
  colorMatrixList: colorFilters,
  startTime: parameters.startTime,
  endTime: parameters.endTime,

  transform: shouldApplyTransform
      ? ExportTransform(
          width: parameters.cropWidth ??
              videoMetadata.resolution.width.toInt(),
          height: parameters.cropHeight ??
              videoMetadata.resolution.height.toInt(),
          rotateTurns: (videoMetadata.rotation / 90).round(),
          x: 0,
          y: 0,
          flipX: false,
          flipY: false,
        )
      : null,
);

---

Result

• Portrait preview is correct
• Export keeps correct orientation
• No forced landscape
• No resolution splitting
• Works even when rotation == 0

This should be safe to integrate at library level by validating aspect ratio, not just rotation metadata.
@hm21 solved