A picture flipper reverses a picture along one or both axes. The part most guides skip is the format side: what you can put in, and what you can get back out. Put in JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or BMP; take out PNG, JPG or WebP.
Choose your output deliberately. PNG if the picture has transparency, JPG for the smallest file from a photograph, WebP for the smallest file overall. Choosing JPG for a transparent picture will fill the background, because JPG has no transparency channel.
| Format | Use it when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | The picture has transparency, or is a screenshot or graphic with sharp edges | Larger files than JPG for photographs |
| JPG / JPEG | It is a photograph and you want the smallest reasonable file | No transparency. Repeated saves lose a little quality each time |
| WebP | You want the smallest file and the recipient's software supports it | Older desktop software may not open it |
| GIF | You are starting from a GIF | Only the first frame is flipped; animated GIFs become stills |
| BMP | You have a BMP and want out of it | Very large files. Often the real reason to flip is to convert |
The question worth answering directly: given what you have, what can you get? Every input format below can be exported to all three output formats.
| You have | You can export | Transparency preserved? |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | PNG, JPG, WebP | Nothing to preserve — no transparency in the source |
| PNG with transparency | PNG, WebP | Yes |
| PNG with transparency | JPG | No — the transparent area becomes solid white |
| WebP | PNG, JPG, WebP | Yes, if exporting to PNG or WebP |
| GIF (still) | PNG, JPG, WebP | Depends on the source |
| GIF (animated) | PNG, JPG, WebP | First frame only — the animation is not carried over |
| BMP | PNG, JPG, WebP | Not applicable |
We tested the flipper on this site with one file of each accepted input format and recorded the outcome, so that the tables above are based on observation rather than on what the format names suggest.
All five input formats loaded and flipped. All five could be exported to PNG, JPG and WebP. The transparency behaviour in the second table was confirmed directly: a PNG logo with a cut-out background kept its transparency when exported as PNG and as WebP, and had the cut-out filled with solid white when exported as JPG. That is a property of the JPG format rather than a fault in the tool, but it is the single most common surprise, so it belongs in writing.
The animated GIF behaviour was also confirmed rather than assumed: the result was a still image showing the flipped first frame. If animation matters to you, this is the wrong tool and we would rather say so plainly.
One number we are deliberately not printing is how long a flip takes on a large file. Any figure we gave would be a property of the machine we happened to test on, not of the tool, and presenting it as a general figure would be misleading. The same applies to a maximum viable file size: the honest answer is that it depends on the reader's browser and available memory.
Finally, we did not test every obscure variant of every format. TIFF, HEIC, RAW and the various professional formats are simply not claimed here, and we have not checked them, so this reference lists what we verified and stops there.