diff --git a/render.py b/render.py
index 1aee92b..a24ccb3 100644
--- a/render.py
+++ b/render.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import argparse
 import math
 import random
 from html import escape as html_escape
-from PIL import Image, ImageSequence
+from PIL import Image, ImageOps, ImageSequence
 
 # ── Character palettes sorted dark → light ──────────────────────────────
 PALETTES = {
@@ -65,13 +65,18 @@ def get_luminance(r: int, g: int, b: int) -> float:
 
 def _prepare_frame(img: Image.Image, width: int, bg: str) -> Image.Image:
     """Composite alpha onto background and resize for rendering."""
+    # Apply EXIF orientation (phone photos come rotated without this)
+    img = ImageOps.exif_transpose(img)
     img = img.convert("RGBA")
     bg_color = (0, 0, 0, 255) if bg == "dark" else (255, 255, 255, 255)
     background = Image.new("RGBA", img.size, bg_color)
     background.paste(img, mask=img.split()[3])
     img = background.convert("RGB")
+    # Monospace chars in browser: ~0.6 width-to-height ratio at font-size 8px, line-height 1.05
+    # So each char cell is roughly 4.8px wide x 8.4px tall → ratio 0.57
+    char_aspect = 0.55
     aspect = img.height / img.width
-    height = max(1, int(width * aspect * 0.45))
+    height = max(1, int(width * aspect * char_aspect))
     return img.resize((width, height), Image.LANCZOS)