Disclosed techniques include audio and visual stream rendering modification based on device rotation metric. One or more media streams are received from a server. The one or more media streams are targeted for display on a handheld media stream playback device. An orientation of the handheld device is determined during playback of at least one of the one or more media streams on the handheld device. A change in orientation of the handheld device is detected. The change occurs during playback of the at least one of the one or more media streams. Based on detecting the change in orientation, a rotation angle of the handheld device is calculated. Based on the rotation angle, the playback of at least one of the one or more media streams is changed on the handheld device.