Rotate and Flip Images

How it works

Choose your images, pick the operation and press Apply. A quarter turn swaps the two dimensions: a 4000×3000 landscape photo becomes a 3000×4000 portrait one, while a 180-degree turn and both mirror options leave the measurements exactly as they were. The part that matters most is where the change is written. It goes into the pixels themselves rather than into a tag, which is why the output looks right in old programs, in upload forms and in mail clients that ignore orientation tags entirely. JPG sources are saved as JPG at a high quality setting, everything else as PNG with transparency preserved, and each result line reports the dimensions before and after so a quarter turn is easy to confirm at a glance.

This tool is also known as rotate image, flip image, rotate a photo 90 degrees, mirror a picture, fix a sideways photo.

What is Rotation?

Rotation turns the whole image around its centre by 90, 180 or 270 degrees. At those steps no pixel value has to be calculated; the pixels simply move to new positions, so nothing blurs and nothing is lost at the edges. The one thing to watch is the measurements, because a quarter turn swaps width with height and a landscape photo comes back as a portrait one. Turning by an in-between angle such as 15 degrees is a different operation altogether: it leaves empty corners and has to resample every pixel in the frame.

What is Mirroring?

Mirroring reflects the image across an axis: flip horizontally and left trades places with right, flip vertically and top trades with bottom. The picture is not turned — you get its reflection, exactly as a mirror would show it. The most familiar case is the front camera, where phones preview a selfie mirrored, so writing on a shirt can come out reversed in the saved file and a horizontal flip puts it back. Scanned film negatives and shots taken through glass are corrected the same way.

What is EXIF orientation tag?

EXIF is the block of technical information stored inside a photo file, and orientation is one of its entries. A phone saves the frame as the sensor captured it and writes 'display this rotated 90 degrees' into that entry instead of moving any pixels. Software that reads the tag shows the photo upright; software that ignores it shows the raw frame on its side, which is exactly why one file can look correct in your gallery and wrong in an upload form. Rewriting the pixels removes the ambiguity for good.

Rotating or mirroring — what is the difference?

Rotation turns the picture around its centre: the content is unchanged and only your viewing angle moves, though a quarter turn does swap width with height. Mirroring produces a reflection instead — left and right, or top and bottom, trade places, and any writing in the frame turns into mirror writing. Use rotation for a photo lying on its side or standing on its head, and a flip for reversed text or the mirror effect of a front camera. The two also combine in a way worth remembering: a 180-degree rotation gives exactly the same result as flipping horizontally and then vertically.

Why is a photo upright on your phone but sideways on the computer?

Phones normally save the frame the way the sensor read it and record the intended orientation in an EXIF tag rather than turning the pixels. Gallery apps read that tag and show the photo the right way up; older software, some office suites and plenty of upload forms do not read it, and show the raw frame lying on its side.

This tool applies the orientation tag when it opens the photo, so it starts from the same view your gallery shows. Any rotation you pick is applied to that view, and the saved copy has its pixels genuinely turned. The result carries no orientation tag, so it opens the same way in every program you send it to.

Rotate or mirror — which one do you need?

They correct different faults. A photo lying on its side or standing on its head needs a rotation. Text that reads backwards, or the mirror effect of a front camera, needs a flip — rotating such an image never fixes it, it only moves the reversed writing somewhere else in the frame.

If you are unsure, look for writing in the picture. Readable but sideways means rotate; upright but reversed means mirror.

• Sideways phone photo → 90° left or right
• Document scanned upside down → 180°
• Reversed writing in a selfie → mirror horizontally
• Shot taken through a reflection → mirror vertically

Frequently asked questions

Does turning a photo cost quality?

Not for PNG or WEBP sources, which are written back losslessly. A JPG has to be re-encoded and that is done at a high quality setting, so a single pass is not visible — but choose the right orientation once rather than saving the same file over and over.

My photo looks upright on my phone. Do I still need this?

No — do not rotate it. This tool opens the photo with the orientation tag applied, so a photo that is upright on your phone is upright here too, and any rotation you pick would tip it over. If it only looks sideways elsewhere — on a computer, in a form, in an email — the fix is a fresh copy of what you already see. Change the Format of an Image makes one: set the output to JPG, move quality to its maximum (95%) and convert. The new file has upright pixels and no orientation tag.

Can I turn several photos at once?

Yes. The same operation is applied to every file you choose, and each one is written out and downloaded separately, so a folder of sideways holiday photos is a single pass.

Are transparent areas kept?

Yes. PNG and WEBP sources are saved as PNG and the alpha channel comes through untouched. Rotating and mirroring move pixels to new positions without changing any colour or transparency value.