How to Invert Colours in MS Paint

Easily turn colors to their opposites in Microsoft Paint with this user-friendly guide

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: November 30, 2023 Fact Checked

This wikiHow teaches you how to use the Invert Colors effect in Microsoft Paint to switch an image's colors to the opposite on the spectrum. If you're using Windows 10, make sure you open the image in Paint, not Paint 3D—Paint 3D does not have a tool that allows you to invert an image's colors.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using Windows 10, 8, and 7

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1
Open Microsoft Paint. If you're using Windows 10, you'll have two different Paint apps on your PC. One is called Paint and the other is called Paint 3D. Paint 3D does not have an Invert Colors option. The one you can use to invert colors is called Paint, and you can open it by following these steps:^{[1]
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Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

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- Click the Windows search bar or magnifying glass on the taskbar.
- Type paint.
- Click Paint. It's the icon that looks like a palette and paintbrush.
To do so, click the File menu at the top-left corner, select Open, and then navigate to your image. Once you find it, select it and click Open.^{[2]
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It's on the toolbar that runs along the top of the app in the "Image" panel. A list of selection options will expand.
Use this option if you want to invert the colors in the entire image. If you'd prefer to select just one part of the image, choose Free-form selection instead, and then use the mouse to trace the desired area.
A menu will expand.^{[3]
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Click Invert color on the menu. It should be the last option.^{[4]
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- For a quick color inversion, press the shortcut Ctrl+⇧ Shift+I.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Windows Vista and Earlier

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1
Open your image in MS Paint. You can do this by from inside or outside Paint:
- Inside Paint: Open MS Paint by clicking the Desktop icon or locating it in the Start menu. Once Paint is open, click File and then Open. Find and select the image that you want to invert, and then click Open.
- Outside Paint: Right-click the image file, select Open with, and then choose Paint.
It's at the top of Paint.
3
Click Invert Colors on the menu. This will immediately invert the colors.
- For a quick invert, simply press Ctrl+I.

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Can I do it on a Samung?

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MS Paint is a Microsoft product, and a Samsung phone or tablet would be running the Android operating system. A good equivalent is Sketch - Draw & Paint, available in the Play Store.

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"BMP, "PNG", "JPG", and "GIF" are common file formats. For most situations, PNG will yield the smallest file size without losing quality. Choose JPG if the image being saved is a photograph, though note that Paint's implementation of the jpeg standard results in lossy images.^{[5]
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You can use the Select tool, or the free-form select tool to select a specific area of your picture to invert.

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Open a file quickly by pressing Ctrl+O on your keyboard.

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