Image flipper basics: flipping versus rotating
A horizontal flip mirrors the picture across a vertical line, so left and right swap places, as in a mirror. A vertical flip mirrors it across a horizontal line, turning it upside down while also reversing it. Rotation turns the whole picture without mirroring anything, so text stays readable.
The two are easy to confuse. An upside-down photo usually needs a 180 degree rotation, not a vertical flip; a flip would leave any writing in the photo backwards.
How to use the image flipper
Drop a JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF image onto the tool. Use Flip horizontal and Flip vertical to mirror it, and Rotate left and Rotate right to turn it by a quarter at a time. The preview reflects every click, and the buttons always act the way the picture currently looks on screen, even after a rotation.
When it looks right, choose PNG or JPG and download. The full-size image is transformed exactly as the preview shows.
Un-mirroring selfies
Front cameras often show a mirrored preview, and some phones save the photo that way too. Signs, shirts and anything with writing then appear backwards. A single horizontal flip puts the text the right way round and shows your face as other people see it.
The reverse is useful as well: flip a normal photo horizontally to see it as you see yourself in a mirror, which many people find looks more familiar.
Fixing sideways and upside-down photos
Phones record which way they were held and tell viewers how to rotate the picture. When an app ignores that note, a portrait photo appears lying on its side. Rotate it a quarter turn in the right direction and download it; the new file is stored upright, so every app shows it correctly.
Scanned documents and receipts often come out upside down. A 180 degree rotation, pressing Rotate right twice, fixes them without mirroring the text.
Mirrored prints for iron-on transfers
Iron-on and heat transfer papers print the design face down onto the fabric, so the artwork must be mirrored before printing. Otherwise text on the finished shirt or bag reads backwards. Flip the design horizontally here, print the mirrored copy, and it comes out the right way on the fabric.
The same applies to some sublimation and window decal work. Check the instructions for your paper or printer, since a few products expect normal, unmirrored artwork.
Layouts and design
Flipping a photo can improve a layout. A person looking out of the page often feels awkward, so designers mirror the picture so the subject faces the text. Product shots can be flipped to match a set of images that all point the same way.
Avoid flipping pictures that contain text, logos or well-known landmarks, where a mirrored version is instantly noticeable. Symmetrical subjects and landscapes without writing are the safest candidates.
Image flipper for social posts and thumbnails
Thumbnails and banners often work better when the subject faces into the frame, toward the title or the button. A quick horizontal flip in the image flipper turns a photo around so the eye travels where you want it, without reshooting.
For collages and before-and-after posts, flipping one of the pictures can make the pair feel balanced and intentional. Check that there is no text in the photo first, since mirrored writing gives the trick away.
Combining flips and rotations
Flips and rotations stack. Rotating a picture right and then flipping it horizontally mirrors it across its diagonal, which is useful for some layouts and for correcting scans that were fed into a scanner the wrong way.
If a combination goes wrong, keep clicking: four quarter turns bring the picture back to where it started, and flipping twice on the same axis undoes the flip. Or load the image again to start fresh.
Using the image flipper on a phone
The image flipper runs in mobile browsers too, which is handy for fixing a mirrored selfie before you post it. Choose the photo from your library, tap the buttons you need, and save the result to your downloads or files app.
Mirror image, flipped image and reversed image
People use several names for the same edit. A mirror image, a flipped image and a reversed image usually all mean a horizontal flip, where left and right swap as they do in a mirror. An upside-down flip is less common and is normally called a vertical flip.
Whatever the name, the image flipper handles it: Flip horizontal for the mirror effect, Flip vertical to turn the picture over from top to bottom.
Reversed drawings for tracing and transfers
Artists who transfer a drawing by rubbing graphite onto another surface need the design reversed, because the transfer mirrors it once more. Flip the sketch horizontally, print it, and the transferred lines come out facing the right way.
The same applies to linocut and woodcut prints, where the carved block prints a mirror image of itself. Reversing the design before transferring it to the block keeps text and asymmetric details correct in the final print.
Quality, formats and privacy
Flips and quarter turns move pixels without resampling them, so the picture stays exactly as sharp as the original. Saving as PNG keeps it lossless and preserves transparency; saving as JPG re-encodes it at high quality and fills transparent areas with white. The tool picks JPG for JPEG sources and PNG otherwise.
The image flipper runs entirely in your browser. Your picture is never uploaded, there is no account or limit, and the metadata of the original file, including any location data, is not copied into the new one.