What does inverting colors do?

Inverting turns every color into its opposite: black becomes white, red becomes cyan, and blue becomes yellow, like a photo negative. A second mode inverts only the lightness. White turns black and light colors turn dark, but every color keeps its hue, so red stays red and a pale blue becomes a deep blue. That's a quick way to turn a light screenshot, chart, or diagram into a dark mode version.

Tool description

Open an image and it's inverted right away. Choose "All colors" for a classic negative, or "Lightness only" to darken a light image while its colors keep their hue. Transparency stays as it was. Compare the result with the original, then download it as PNG, JPG, or WebP.

Features

  • A classic negative of all colors
  • Lightness only inversion that keeps the hues, for dark screenshots and diagrams
  • Transparent areas stay transparent, processed in your browser

How it works

"All colors" subtracts each red, green, and blue value from 255. "Lightness only" moves all three channels of a pixel by the same amount, so its brightest and darkest channel trade places around the middle. That flips the HSL lightness while the hue and saturation stay exactly the same. The colors match a full inversion followed by a 180° hue shift.

Tips

  • Inverting twice gives back the original image, in both modes.
  • In "Lightness only" mode, strong colors of medium lightness, like a bright red or blue, barely change, while white backgrounds and black text swap.
  • Download as PNG to keep text and lines in screenshots crisp.