Newsroom Update

Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available in Canada. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

64 points

iPhone 4s pictures won't rotate after being transferred to the computer?

The majority of pictures I take right-side-up still transfer to my computer in landscape mode. Sure this was annoying, but in the past I could easily fix it by simply selecting them all and telling the computer to rotate them clockwise. However, now I am unable to rotate any picture I transfer from my device to my computer harddrive. Upon copying and pasting them to my computer, it still brings them in, in landscape mode (rotated 90 degrees to the left to be precise). However, when I try to rotate them I get the error message "you cannot rotate this image. The file might be in use or open in another program, or the file or folder might be read-only." I have double checked for a fact that none of these images are read-only, and I have even tried restarting my computer then rotating the images with no other application open....

Also, when I try opening up Windows photo viewer and doing them one by one...upon pushing the rotate button it appears to work. The picture rotates. But if I click next or try to close the window and have it save I get the message, "Windows Photo Viewer cannot save the changes to this picture because there's a problem with the picture's file properties."

Any idea what might be going on or how I can fix this? Thank you in advance for anyone who can offer me any assistance in this matter. Your time is greatly appreciated.

iPhone 4, iOS 4.3.3

Posted on Dec 7, 2011 11:19 AM

17 replies

cowapult

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2012 4:28 PM in response to Krahnin

I also had this problem. My files and the folder they were in were not marked read-only. I assume AdjuvantJohn and PinchofNaCl are correct about the EXIF metadata, but I found an easier solution that partially solves the problem.

Instead of using Windows Photo Gallery (which didn't let me save a rotated picture), I found that I was able to open, rotate, and save using Paint or Microsoft Office Picture Manager (this came with my Microsoft Office 2010).

So, try some different programs. I didn't like using QuickTime PictureViewer 7.7.2.

TTaemo

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2013 5:55 AM in response to PinchOfNaCl

I found it to have a simular but slightly different route cause, I found it was a problem with some of the iphone4 photos having the "XMP Toolkit" structure. Ie a "Bad" photo that wont rotate has the structure below present in its metadata, where as a "Good" photo that does rotate does not have this structure at all.

---- XMP-x ----

XMP Toolkit : XMP Core 4.4.0

---- XMP-aas ----

Face Balance Orig I : 0.164812

Face Balance Orig Q : 0.0568249

Face Balance Strength : 1

Face Balance Warmth : 1

Vibrance : 0.00585697

Curve 0x : 0.00100379

Curve 0y : 0

Curve 1x : 0.142445

Curve 1y : 0.141595

Curve 2x : 0.297191

Curve 2y : 0.29651

Curve 3x : 0.623533

Curve 3y : 0.648255

Curve 4x : 0.999915

Curve 4y : 1

Shadows : 0.252213

Highlights : 1

---- XMP-crs ----

Incremental Temperature : -4.83011

Incremental Tint : -35.3694

Has Settings : True

Already Applied : False

Vibrance : 0.292848

Tone Curve : [0|, 0,36|, 36,76|, 76,159|, 165,255|, 255]

Tone Curve Name : Custom

Fill Light : 6.30532

-- press any key --

So to solve this I just stripped the structure (again using the awesome tool exiftool)

exiftool.exe -k -u -a -struct -xmp:all=

It obviously does not just prevent rotation either, if you are trying to add tags in windows photo gallery, this problem prevents the writing of any data to the metadata of the photo. But annoyingly WPG can sometime still show the photo as having a tag, however this is a tag stored in WPG database and not in the file (the truth is NOT in the file!)

Hope people find this useful.

iPhone 4s pictures won't rotate after being transferred to the computer?