What a horizontal flip does
A horizontal flip swaps the left and right sides of the picture along a vertical line through the middle. A person who looked to the left now looks to the right, and any text reads backwards. The top stays at the top.
Common reasons to flip horizontally
- Selfies. Some phones show a mirrored preview and save the picture the other way round. A flip puts it as you saw it, or as others see you.
- Layouts. A person or an object that faces the wrong way for a page or a banner.
- Iron-on transfers. Heat transfer paper is usually printed mirrored, so that the picture or text is correct after it is pressed on. Check the instructions for your paper.
- Art and photography. A mirrored copy shows balance problems that your eye no longer sees.
Horizontal or vertical
A horizontal flip swaps left and right. To swap top and bottom, use flip vertically. To turn the picture without mirroring, use the image rotator.
Related tools
See flip image for both directions, mirror image for symmetry effects, and the image cropper.