A mirror that doesn't reverse you

A front camera does not mirror anything. It records the scene the way any camera does — your right hand on the picture’s left, as someone facing you would see it. Every camera app then flips the preview it shows you, because that is what a bathroom mirror trained everyone to expect: raise your right hand and the hand on the right of the screen goes up. Video calls do the same with your own tile, and many phones save selfies the way the preview looked.

This page draws the camera’s frames as they arrive, without that flip. That is the “mirror that doesn’t reverse you”: the face your friends, a photographer and a video call’s other end see. A physical version exists — two mirrors joined at a right angle, looked into at the corner, so the two reflections cancel — and it gives the same picture. Switch to the mirrored view to see the difference side by side in time.

1. 1Start the camera. Your browser asks first. Allow it for this site; nothing else here needs the camera.
2. 2Look. The true view shows you as other people and other cameras see you. Switch to mirrored to compare with what you are used to.
3. 3Capture, if you want. Capture saves one still of the current view as PNG or JPEG to your downloads. Nothing is saved otherwise.
4. 4Stop. Stop releases the camera and its light goes off. Leaving the page or switching tabs stops it too.

Pressing Start asks the browser for the front camera, video only, no microphone. Each frame is drawn onto a canvas on this page — un-mirrored in the true view, through one horizontal flip in the mirrored view — and replaced by the next. Capture copies the frame on screen into a PNG or JPEG and hands it to your downloads; a 1280 × 720 camera gives a 1280 × 720 still. Stop, switching tabs or leaving the page ends the stream and the camera light goes off. The camera is allowed on this page only; every other page on the site has it switched off.

• Lighting and lens still matter. A front camera is wide and close, which enlarges whatever is nearest it. Un-mirroring fixes the direction, not the perspective.
• Needs a camera permission. Without it the page shows nothing; it asks once and tells you how to allow it later.
• No recording. There is no video capture here — only single stills, on request.

Why do I look different in the true view?

Faces are not symmetrical, and you have spent your life looking at the mirrored version. A parting, a crooked smile or a mole on one cheek all swap sides here. Most people find the true view slightly odd at first — it is the one everyone else sees.

What is a non-reversed mirror?

A mirror that shows you as others see you. The physical version is two mirrors at right angles: looking into the corner, the two reflections cancel and your right hand appears on the right. This page does the same with a camera, by drawing the frames without the flip that self-view normally adds.

Is anything recorded?

No. The camera frames are drawn onto this page and discarded; there is no recording and no upload. A still is written only when you press Capture, and then only to your own downloads.

The camera didn't start.

If you said no to the browser's question, allow the camera in the site settings and press Start again. If another app is using the camera, close it first. Nothing else on this site needs the camera.