Flip and rotate images

These two are easy to mix up:

• Flip horizontal mirrors the picture left to right, like looking in a mirror. Text becomes backward.
• Flip vertical mirrors it top to bottom, like a reflection in water. The picture ends up upside down and mirrored.
• Rotate 90° turns the whole image a quarter turn clockwise (↻) or counterclockwise (↺) without mirroring. Two rotations make 180°.

You can combine them. For example, rotating 180° gives the same result as flipping both horizontally and vertically. The preview updates as you click, so you can try combinations freely.

Problem	What to click
Selfie with backward text (signs, T-shirts)	Flip horizontal
Photo appears sideways	Rotate ↻ 90° or ↺ 90°
Scanned page upside down	Rotate twice (180°)
Need a mirror image for iron-on transfers	Flip horizontal
Symmetry or reflection effect	Flip vertical

Why are selfies mirrored? Most phones show the front camera preview mirrored, because that feels natural, like a mirror. Some phones save the photo mirrored too, others save it the "true" way, so text in the background can come out backward. On iPhone you can change this under Settings > Camera > Mirror Front Camera.

T-shirt transfer paper and some other craft materials require a mirrored design, because the image is pressed face-down onto the fabric. Flip the design horizontally here, print it on the transfer paper, and it will read correctly once ironed on. Always check the transfer paper's instructions: some "light fabric" papers need mirroring, while many "dark fabric" papers do not.

The same applies to window decals designed to be read from the outside when applied on the inside of the glass.

Flipping and rotating by 90° only move pixels around, so no detail is lost. The tool works on the full-resolution original, not the preview. PNG and WebP files keep their format and transparency; JPG files are saved at high quality, and other formats such as HEIC are saved as JPG. The downloaded file gets a "-kitpebble" suffix, so your original is never overwritten.

Everything happens in your browser. The photo is not uploaded to any server, which is important for personal pictures.

Phones usually store photos in the sensor's native orientation and add an orientation tag that tells viewers how to turn the picture. Most apps respect the tag, but some older programs, websites and printers ignore it, so a photo that looks fine on your phone appears sideways elsewhere.

When you open a photo here, the browser applies the orientation tag first, so the preview shows the picture the way your phone does. If it still looks wrong, rotate it with the buttons. The downloaded file is saved with the pixels physically turned, so it appears correctly in every program, even those that ignore orientation tags.

• To cut away parts of the picture after rotating, use Crop image.
• To change the dimensions, use Resize image.
• For a mirror-like color effect instead of a geometric one, try Invert image colors.

Rotating by an arbitrary angle, such as 3° to straighten a horizon, is not supported here; use a photo editor for that.