What does inverting colours do?

It replaces each red, green, and blue value with 255 minus that value, producing a photographic negative — white becomes black, blue becomes orange, and so on.

Does inverting change the transparency?

No. Only the colour channels are inverted; the alpha (transparency) channel is left unchanged.

Can I invert the negative back to the original?

Yes. Inversion is its own opposite — running it twice restores the original, because 255 − (255 − value) equals the original value for every channel.

Why is inverting useful for film negatives?

Scanned colour film is stored as a negative, so inverting the channels gives a rough positive preview. For accurate film conversion you also need to correct the orange mask, but inversion is the essential first step.

Does inverting help with accessibility testing?

It can. Viewing an inverted version mimics a dark-mode or high-contrast inversion and helps spot elements that rely only on colour, though it is not a substitute for a proper contrast audit.

Is the image uploaded?

No. The inversion runs entirely in your browser using the canvas API, so your photo stays on your device.

Invert Image Colors — Gera Tools

Invert image colours

Turn any photo into its photographic negative by inverting every colour channel. White flips to black, light areas become dark, and each hue is replaced by its opposite — useful for previewing scanned film negatives, accessibility checks, or creative artwork.

How it works

The image is read into a <canvas> with getImageData. For every pixel the tool replaces each colour channel with 255 − value:

R → 255 − R
G → 255 − G
B → 255 − B

The alpha (transparency) channel is left untouched, so transparent areas stay transparent. Because the operation is a simple subtraction, applying it twice returns the original image exactly.

Example

Original (R, G, B)	Colour	Inverted (R, G, B)	Colour
0, 0, 0	black	255, 255, 255	white
255, 255, 255	white	0, 0, 0	black
30, 144, 255	blue	225, 111, 0	orange

The transform runs in your browser, so your image is never uploaded.