Why is my webcam upside down or mirrored?

A mirrored preview is usually deliberate and other people see you the right way round. An upside down picture is a driver or mounting issue. Here’s how to tell.

By Hardware Detective editorial team · Last updated September 30, 2026 · How we test

There are two quite different problems here and they get confused because both make your picture look wrong.

Mirrored means left and right are swapped. Text reads backwards and when you raise your right hand the image raises the hand on the right side of the screen, like a mirror.

Upside down means the image is rotated 180 degrees or flipped vertically. Your head is at the bottom of the frame.

The first is usually intentional. The second is a fault.

Mirrored: usually nothing is wrong

Almost every video call app mirrors your own preview. People find it natural because it matches what they see in a mirror. Moving left in front of a mirrored preview moves you left on screen, which makes it easier to frame yourself.

The important part is that only your preview is mirrored. Everyone else on the call sees the real, unmirrored image.

Check it in the webcam test. The preview starts mirrored, like a call app. Click the button to show the unmirrored view. That’s what other people see. Hold up something with writing on it. It reads backwards in the mirrored view and correctly in the unmirrored one.

If the unmirrored view also looks wrong, the camera itself is flipping the image and the fixes below apply.

Upside down: a driver or a setting

Laptop cameras

Some laptops have the camera module installed upside down to fit the case and rely on the driver to rotate the image. When Windows Update replaces the maker’s camera driver with a generic one, the rotation step goes missing and the picture appears upside down.

1. Go to the laptop maker’s support site and search for your exact model.
2. Download and install their camera driver.
3. Restart and check again in the webcam test.

If the problem started right after an update, rolling back the camera driver in Device Manager also works.

External webcams

Check the mount. Some webcams can be clipped on upside down or mounted under a monitor. The camera doesn’t know which way up it is.

Check the camera’s software. Logitech, Razer and other brands include flip and mirror settings in their apps. These are stored on the camera or in its driver, so a setting you changed months ago can still be active.

Check the video settings in Windows. Open Settings, then Bluetooth and devices, then Cameras and choose your camera. Some cameras expose rotation there.

Virtual cameras and effects

Streaming software, background blur apps and camera effects create a virtual camera that sits between your real camera and your call app. If that layer has a flip or rotate setting turned on, every app using the virtual camera inherits it.

Choose your real camera in the call app instead of the virtual one. If the picture comes back the right way up, the setting lives in the virtual camera software.

Mirrored for everyone

If people on the call say your text reads backwards, something is mirroring the image before it leaves your computer. That’s nearly always the camera’s own software or a virtual camera, not the call app. Turn off mirroring there and check the unmirrored view in the webcam test again.

While you’re in the webcam test

The webcam test also reports the resolution and frame rate your camera actually delivers. If the picture is the right way up but looks soft or choppy, those numbers tell you where to look next. The laggy webcam guide covers low frame rates.