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embedded image is rotated to wrong orientation

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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Whenever I drag an image into an e-mail, the image gets forced into landscape orientation even if it was in portrait orientation. The EXIF information is correct. It clearly states width = 3000 height = 4000, and it shows up in the correct orientation in all image previewing software and in image editing software. But when I drag it into an e-mail it forces it to be 4000x3000 landscape instead.

If I resave the file from an image editing program without making any changes, then thunderbird preserves the correct 3000x4000 portrait orientation. But I compared the EXIF information for both and they are identical. There's no reason it should be rotating the other images.

Whenever I drag an image into an e-mail, the image gets forced into landscape orientation even if it was in portrait orientation. The EXIF information is correct. It clearly states width = 3000 height = 4000, and it shows up in the correct orientation in all image previewing software and in image editing software. But when I drag it into an e-mail it forces it to be 4000x3000 landscape instead. If I resave the file from an image editing program without making any changes, then thunderbird preserves the correct 3000x4000 portrait orientation. But I compared the EXIF information for both and they are identical. There's no reason it should be rotating the other images.

All Replies (4)

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And additional piece of information. If I attach the photo instead of embedding it (drag in), and then look at the sent image, the preview of the attached files at the bottom in the sent folder shows the image in the correct (portrait) orientation. It's only when embedding the image in the email (drag and drop so it's inline with text) that it rotates it wrong.

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The response seems to imply the picture is missing the orientation data due to the camera not embedding it. This is not the case. The picture does have the EXIF info stating the correct orientation.

So are you saying that thunderbird is just ignoring the EXIF information?

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Thunderbird is an email client not a graphics viewer. It does not look at or act on the EXIF data embedded into a photograph and its design predates the use of smartphones with orientation detectors.

It doesn't know or care about the orientation data embedded into images taken with such devices, and so it simply shows the image with pixel (0,0) at top left.

You need to rotate that image yourself, rewriting it so that the visual top left is at pixel (0,0) and not bottom left. That means using a graphic program to rewrite the image in the appropriate orientation.