How to Flip or Rotate Webcam Video in Windows and Mac

If your webcam shows you upside down or mirrored during video calls, you are not alone. Knowing how to flip webcam video is one of the most common troubleshooting questions for anyone who records from home or joins regular meetings online. Whether your image appears horizontally mirrored or completely inverted, there are reliable fixes for both Windows and Mac — and most of them take under two minutes. This guide walks you through every method, from built-in OS settings to free third-party software, so you can get your video looking correct before your next call. Be sure to also check out our roundup of the best webcams if you are considering an upgrade while you are at it.

Why Is My Webcam Video Flipped or Mirrored?

Most webcams output a mirror image by default because it feels natural — it mimics looking in a mirror. The issue is that viewers on the other end of a call see your raw, un-mirrored image, which can make text on your shirt appear backwards and confuse anyone watching. Some cameras also ship with default rotation settings that do not match how they are physically mounted, especially budget clip-on models or webcams repositioned on a monitor arm.

Hardware vs. Software Mirroring

True hardware mirroring is rare — almost all consumer webcams output a standard image at the sensor level. What gets flipped is almost always done in software: either by the webcam's bundled driver, by the video call application, or by the operating system's camera framework. That means the fix is almost always a setting change, not a hardware swap.

When It Actually Matters

For casual video calls, a mirrored preview only affects you — the person you are talking to already sees the correct orientation. However, if you are recording your screen and webcam at the same time, or streaming live, the mirrored image will appear mirrored in the final recorded video too. That is when fixing it in your capture software becomes essential.

How to Flip Webcam Video on Windows

Windows does not have a single universal setting to flip all webcam feeds simultaneously. Instead, the flip option lives either in the app you are using, in the webcam's driver settings, or in third-party capture software. Below are the three most reliable approaches.

Using the Windows Camera App

The built-in Windows Camera app added a mirroring toggle in recent updates. Open Start → Camera, then click the gear icon to open Settings. Scroll to the Framing grid section and look for a Mirror my video or Flip horizontally toggle. If this toggle is present, enabling it will flip your preview within the Camera app only — it does not affect other applications. Note that this setting is available on Windows 11 and later builds of Windows 10; older builds may not show it.

If you do not see the toggle, your Windows Camera app version may be outdated. Open the Microsoft Store, search for "Windows Camera," and update it to the latest version.

Via Device Manager and Driver Properties

Some webcam manufacturers include a flip or rotation control directly in the driver's advanced settings panel. To find it, right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager. Expand Cameras or Imaging Devices, right-click your webcam, and select Properties → Advanced Settings or Properties → Driver Settings (the exact label depends on the manufacturer). Logitech, Razer, and Poly all expose flip controls here when their full drivers are installed. If you only have a generic Windows driver installed, this panel will be minimal. This is also a good time to make sure your drivers are current — see our guide on how to update webcam drivers on Windows if you are unsure.

Using OBS Studio on Windows

OBS Studio is the most powerful free option for anyone who records or streams. After adding your webcam as a Video Capture Device source, right-click the source in the Sources panel and choose Filters. Add a Transform filter, or right-click the preview and choose Transform → Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. OBS also supports 90°, 180°, and 270° rotation via the same Transform menu. These settings apply only within OBS but can be output through a Virtual Camera so other apps see the corrected image — more on that in the Advanced Tools section below.

How to Flip or Rotate Webcam Video on Mac

macOS handles webcam access differently from Windows. Apple controls the camera pipeline tightly, and third-party apps request access through the system framework. This means the flip option is often inside each app rather than in a system-wide preference pane.

FaceTime and Mirror My Video

FaceTime on Mac has a built-in mirror toggle. During a call, click Video in the menu bar and look for Mirror My Video. When enabled, your preview in the corner of the screen matches what you see in a mirror. Importantly, this only changes your own preview — the other person always sees the un-mirrored version. If you want viewers to see a flipped image, you need a different approach.

On macOS Monterey and later, the same option also appears in System Preferences → FaceTime for managing defaults before a call starts.

QuickTime Player Workaround

QuickTime Player on Mac can open a new Movie Recording using your webcam as a preview monitor. Unfortunately, QuickTime itself does not expose a flip option in its UI. However, you can edit the recording after the fact: open the clip in QuickTime, go to Edit → Flip Horizontal or Edit → Rotate Left / Rotate Right. For live use, QuickTime alone is not enough — pair it with OBS or a virtual camera tool instead.

Using OBS Studio on Mac

OBS Studio on Mac behaves identically to the Windows version for flip and rotation controls. Add your webcam as a Video Capture Device, right-click the source, and use the Transform submenu. The Virtual Camera output from OBS is especially useful on Mac because it creates a fake camera device that Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet can select as their camera input — meaning your flipped or rotated image gets pushed through to all call apps at once without adjusting each one individually.

Fixing Flip Inside Video Call Apps

If you only need to fix the flip for one specific app and do not want to install extra software, most major video call platforms have their own built-in controls.

Zoom

Zoom mirrors your own preview by default but does not mirror what others see. To change what you see: open Settings → Video and check or uncheck Mirror my video. To flip what others see (for example, if text appears backwards to them), you need to flip at the driver or OBS level first, then disable Zoom's own mirror toggle — the two settings effectively cancel each other out. Understanding this interaction is especially important if you are setting up a webcam for podcast recording where the recorded output must be correct.

Microsoft Teams

In Microsoft Teams, open Settings → Devices and click Make a test call or look for the camera preview. Teams does not expose a dedicated flip toggle in the same way Zoom does. For a horizontal flip, the most reliable method is to flip the feed upstream using OBS Virtual Camera or your webcam's companion software, then select that virtual camera in Teams. Teams will pick up the already-corrected image.

Google Meet

Google Meet automatically mirrors your self-preview in the browser but does not mirror what participants see — this is the same behavior as Zoom. There is no flip setting inside Meet itself. If you need to correct the orientation for all viewers (not just your own preview), use OBS Virtual Camera or a dedicated webcam utility to flip the feed before it reaches the browser.

Quick-Reference: Methods by Platform

The table below summarizes which method to use depending on your operating system and situation. Methods marked Preview only change what you see on screen but not what others see.

Advanced Tools for Streamers and Podcasters

If you need system-wide flip correction that works across every app without touching settings in each one, virtual camera software and dedicated webcam utilities are the cleanest solution.

Virtual Camera Software

A virtual camera is a software driver that appears to your operating system as a real webcam. Tools like OBS Studio (free), ManyCam, and XSplit VCam create a virtual camera output. You set up your real webcam as the input inside that tool, apply flip or rotation transforms, then select the virtual camera as the input inside Zoom, Teams, or any other app. The result: every application receives the already-corrected image without any app-specific configuration needed. This approach is also useful when you want to adjust webcam exposure, brightness, and white balance globally before the signal reaches your call app.

On Windows, OBS Virtual Camera installs automatically with OBS Studio. On Mac, you may need to grant additional system extension permissions in System Preferences → Security & Privacy the first time OBS Virtual Camera is activated.

Dedicated Webcam Companion Apps

Many mid-range and premium webcams ship with companion software that exposes flip and rotation controls much more simply than OBS. Logitech cameras can use Logitech G HUB or the older Logitech Capture app, both of which include a horizontal flip toggle that affects all applications globally. Razer webcams use Razer Synapse, which similarly applies transforms at the driver level. If you own a Logitech Brio, C920, or similar model, installing the official companion software is the fastest route to fixing a flipped image — no OBS required.

For webcams without dedicated software, Webcam Settings (Mac, paid) and Camera Control Pro (Windows, free trial) are reliable third-party alternatives that expose low-level controls that the OS does not surface by default. These tools also let you dial in other parameters that affect video quality — something worth exploring if you care about frame rate consistency, as covered in our Webcam 30fps vs 60fps breakdown.

Finally, if you have already tried the software fixes and your image is still consistently rotated, check the physical mounting of your webcam. A clip-on camera that has slid sideways on a thin monitor bezel, or a standalone tripod-mounted webcam that has been nudged, can introduce a persistent rotation that no software setting can cleanly correct. Remounting it level and then applying a small software correction is nearly always cleaner than using a large rotation transform in software, which can crop the edges of your frame.