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Use Flip vertical to turn an upside-down image right-side up, Rotate left or Rotate right for a sideways image, and Flip horizontal to correct a left-right mirror. WordPress includes these controls in the Media Library editor and the block editor’s Media Editor.
Fix an image in the Media Library
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Media → Library and select the image.
- Choose Edit Image.
- Apply the correction: choose Flip vertical for an upside-down image; Rotate left or Rotate right for a sideways image; or Flip horizontal if the image is mirrored left to right. Each rotation turns the image 90 degrees.
- Save the change. If the result is wrong, use undo or redo, or choose Restore Original Image if available.
The editor lets you choose whether the change applies to all image sizes, only the thumbnail, or all sizes except the thumbnail. If the image looks correct in one place but not another, check this scope. See WordPress’s Edit Media documentation for the editor controls.
Fix an image while editing a page or post
- Select the image block in the editor.
- Select Crop in the block toolbar to open the Media Editor.
- In the Crop tab, use Rotate to turn the image left or right, drag the ruler to straighten it by degree, or use Flip to mirror it horizontally or vertically.
- Select Save.
The block editor saves the edited version as a new image file; the original remains available in the Media Library. WordPress’s Image block documentation describes this workflow.
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| What looks wrong | WordPress control | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The image is upside down | Flip vertical | Turns the image over vertically. |
| The image is sideways | Rotate left or Rotate right | Turns the image 90 degrees in the selected direction. |
| Left and right appear reversed | Flip horizontal | Mirrors the image from left to right. |
| The image is slightly crooked | Ruler in the block editor’s Media Editor | Straightens the image by degree. |
If the image still looks wrong
Compare the original media file, its Media Library preview, and the image displayed on the page. This helps identify whether the issue is in the original or appears only in a generated image size or on the front end. If only one rendition looks wrong, review which sizes received the edit in the Media Library editor.
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WordPress documentation establishes the editing controls and an administrator command for orientation repairs; it does not identify every possible cause involving themes, plugins, CDNs, browsers, or cached output. Check the actual file and displayed result before attributing the symptom to a particular component.
Could it be EXIF orientation?
JPEG files can contain an EXIF Orientation tag. WordPress documents a method that checks this tag and rotates an image when needed; its client-side upload processing documentation also describes applying rotation using an exif_orientation value from the upload response. This makes EXIF orientation one possible explanation for unexpected rotation in a source photo, not proof of the cause in a particular case. It also does not explain every flipped or rotated image.
Technical details are available in the WP_Image_Editor reference and the client-side media processing documentation.
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Repair orientation for multiple images with WP-CLI
If you administer the site and have command-line access, WordPress provides wp media fix-orientation for one or more media attachments. Start with a dry run to see which images would be affected:
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wp media fix-orientation --dry-run
To target specific attachments, supply their IDs. For example:
wp media fix-orientation 123 456
Replace 123 and 456 with the relevant attachment IDs. This is an administrator workflow, not a dashboard control for ordinary editors. Consult the WP-CLI command reference for its options and examples.
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