gchq/CyberChef · error · OperationError

Error flipping image.

Error message

Error flipping image. (${err})

What it means

Thrown when either the flip transformation or the subsequent getBuffer encoding throws inside the second try block. This is a catch-all for errors during image processing/encoding after successful load. The original error is interpolated for diagnostics. It is rarer than the load error because the image already decoded successfully.

Solutions

1. Read the interpolated err to pinpoint whether flip() or getBuffer() failed.
2. If memory-bound, downscale or crop the image before flipping.
3. Re-save the source in a simpler format (plain PNG/JPEG) to avoid exotic color modes.

Example fix

// before: huge image causing encode failure
flip.run(hugeBuffer, ['Horizontal'])
// after: reduce size first, then flip
const smaller = await resize.run(hugeBuffer, [800, 600]);
flip.run(smaller, ['Horizontal'])

try {
  await flip.run(input, args);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.type === 'OperationError' && /Error flipping image/.test(e.message)) {
    // processing/encoding failed; read the interpolated err and downscale/retry
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Jimp's flip() failing on an edge-case image (e.g. 0-width/0-height after some prior op); getBuffer() failing to re-encode into the target mime (e.g. GIF re-encoded as PNG via JimpMime.png); an out-of-memory or internal Jimp error during buffer serialization.

Common situations: Extremely large images exhausting memory during encode; unusual color modes or bit depths Jimp cannot re-encode; a Jimp version regression in getBuffer for a specific mime.

Related errors

• Error converting image format.
• Error exporting image.
• Error adding text to image.
• Error adjusting image brightness or contrast.
• Error adjusting image hue / saturation / lightness.

AI-assisted analysis of gchq/CyberChef@4290ea7539 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b386f26b6fca72ec. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/core/operations/FlipImage.mjs:83

                    });
                    break;
                case "Vertical":
                    image.flip({
                        horizontal: false,
                        vertical: true,
                    });
                    break;
            }

            let imageBuffer;
            if (image.mime === "image/gif") {
                imageBuffer = await image.getBuffer(JimpMime.png);
            } else {
                imageBuffer = await image.getBuffer(image.mime);
            }
            return imageBuffer.buffer;
        } catch (err) {
            throw new OperationError(`Error flipping image. (${err})`);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Displays the flipped image using HTML for web apps
     * @param {ArrayBuffer} data
     * @returns {html}
     */
    present(data) {
        if (!data.byteLength) return "";
        const dataArray = new Uint8Array(data);

        const type = isImage(dataArray);
        if (!type) {
            throw new OperationError("Invalid file type.");
        }

        return `<img src="data:${type};base64,${toBase64(dataArray)}">`;

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