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Flip a Photo as a Mirror Image

Mirror a photo left to right or top to bottom. The flip buttons come first, and the saved file keeps its full pixel size.

Built and written by Jernej Letica

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How to flip an image

The flip buttons sit at the top of the controls. The photo opens the right way up, as the camera recorded it, so the flip starts from upright.

  1. Choose a JPEG, PNG or WebP photo. Choose several to flip them all the same way; the page works through them one at a time.
  2. Press Flip horizontal to swap left and right, as in a mirror, or Flip vertical to swap top and bottom.
  3. Check the preview. Lettering and clock faces are mirrored after a flip, so read them before you save.
  4. Press Download crop. With the full frame selected, the file keeps the width and height of the photo you chose.

What a flip does to the pixels

A flip moves each pixel to its mirrored place and changes nothing else. The colour values are the same, only their positions differ. A photo of 1200 × 800 px comes out as 1200 × 800 px, and the mirror image has the same number of pixels in each row and column as the original.

A flip is useful for checking a composition. A subject that faces the wrong way can be compared with its mirror image before you decide. That comparison only works if you read the lettering and the clock hands after the flip, because they reverse as well.

Horizontal and vertical

Flip horizontal swaps the left and right edges and keeps the top and bottom where they were. Flip vertical does the reverse, so the sky moves to the bottom and the ground to the top. The two flips give the same result as a 180° turn when they are applied one after the other, which is why the turn buttons live on the rotate page instead.

How the saved file is built

The flip works on the photo at its full size, so the saved file has the same width and height as the photo. A baseline JPEG whose sides divide into whole compression blocks is flipped without a second JPEG compression, and it stays a JPEG. Any other photo is flipped as pixels and saved as PNG, so nothing is compressed a second time.

A phone photo that stores a sideways picture with an orientation note is read upright when it opens. The flip starts from that upright view, and the saved file is upright too.

Checks before you save a flip

  • Read lettering and clock faces after every flip. Mirror writing is easy to miss in a small preview.
  • Keep the full frame selected when you want the whole photo mirrored. A crop saves only the area inside the frame.
  • Use the rotate page for a tilted horizon. A flip does not level a line, and a free angle does.
  • Check the saved size. It should match the width and height of the original when the frame covers the whole picture.

Privacy

Your image never leaves your device. Opening, cropping and saving all happen in your browser, so nothing is uploaded or stored, and you do not need an account. The saved file does not keep the original EXIF, GPS or XMP data.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between flip horizontal and flip vertical?

Flip horizontal swaps left and right, like a mirror held beside the photo. Flip vertical swaps top and bottom, like a reflection in still water. Each keeps the size of the picture and its place on the canvas.

Does flipping an image lower its quality?

No flip changes the colour of any pixel. A baseline JPEG whose sides fit whole compression blocks is flipped without a second compression and stays a JPEG. Other photos are saved as PNG, which keeps every pixel of the mirrored picture.

Does the flipped photo keep its size in pixels?

Yes. A flip moves pixels without resizing them, so a 1200 × 800 px photo is saved at 1200 × 800 px. The download keeps that size as long as the frame covers the whole picture, which is the default for Original.

Why is my phone photo already upright before I flip it?

A phone stores a sideways picture together with a note on which way is up. The browser reads that note when the photo opens and shows the upright view, so the flip works on what you see. The note is not applied a second time.

Can I flip several photos at once?

Yes. Each file is flipped on its own, the results are listed one by one, and the page offers them together as a ZIP once they are done. Each press starts again from the files you chose, so one press flips each photo once.

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