diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 646298bf..d5b67ab0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 #### Fixed
 
 - **common:** Fix `createTransformEcsSystem` composing a child's world position by plain addition of the parent's world position, ignoring the parent's world rotation and scale entirely - a child parented to a rotated and/or scaled entity now orbits/scales with it instead of spinning or resizing in place at an un-rotated, un-scaled offset. **Behavior change** for any existing content that parents a positioned entity to a rotated or scaled one and was authored against the previous (incorrect) composition.
+- **rendering:** Fix `SpriteEcsComponent.pivot` using a Y-down convention (`(0, 0)` was the sprite's top-left) while every other Y-facing value in the engine (world position, rotation) is Y-up - `pivot` is now Y-up too, so `(0, 0)` is the bottom-left corner and `(1, 1)` is the top-right corner. Nine-slice region placement (`computeNineSliceRegions`) is updated to match. The centered default (`(0.5, 0.5)`) is unaffected. **Breaking change** for any content using a non-centered pivot: those sprites now render vertically mirrored around their old pivot point until the pivot's `y` is updated (`1 - oldPivotY`).
 - **utilities:** Fix `Game`'s render loop occasionally producing a negative `deltaTime` for one frame (e.g. right after constructing hundreds of entities in a single tick), by reading `performance.now()` at the point the frame callback runs instead of trusting `requestAnimationFrame`'s supplied timestamp, which is not guaranteed to be monotonic relative to the previous frame
 
 ## [0.24.2] - 2026-08-03
diff --git a/src/rendering/components/sprite-component.ts b/src/rendering/components/sprite-component.ts
index 1195a9f3..b25edea7 100644
--- a/src/rendering/components/sprite-component.ts
+++ b/src/rendering/components/sprite-component.ts
@@ -37,9 +37,11 @@ export interface SpriteRequiredOptions {
 export interface SpriteDefaultedOptions {
   /**
    * The sprite's origin, normalized to the sprite's own size: `(0, 0)` is
-   * the top-left corner, `(0.5, 0.5)` (the default) is the center, and
-   * `(1, 1)` is the bottom-right corner. Determines which point of the
-   * sprite is placed at, and rotated/scaled around, the entity's position.
+   * the bottom-left corner, `(0.5, 0.5)` (the default) is the center, and
+   * `(1, 1)` is the top-right corner - Y-up, matching every other
+   * Y-facing value in the engine (world position, rotation). Determines
+   * which point of the sprite is placed at, and rotated/scaled around, the
+   * entity's position.
    */
   pivot: Vector2;
 
diff --git a/src/rendering/shaders/sprite/sprite.vert.glsl b/src/rendering/shaders/sprite/sprite.vert.glsl
index d83dda03..5d883915 100644
--- a/src/rendering/shaders/sprite/sprite.vert.glsl
+++ b/src/rendering/shaders/sprite/sprite.vert.glsl
@@ -31,7 +31,18 @@ void main() {
     // pivot (0,0) lands 25% in from the sprite's edge instead of at the
     // edge, and every non-center pivot value needs a compensating
     // adjustment to land where it visually should.
-    vec2 normalizedPivot = (a_instancePivot - 0.5) * 2.0;
+    //
+    // Y is negated on top of that: `a_instancePivot` is public API
+    // (`SpriteEcsComponent.pivot`) and is Y-up like every other public
+    // Y-facing value in the engine (world position, rotation), so pivot
+    // (0, 0) means bottom-left and (1, 1) means top-right. Everything below
+    // this line - a_position, a_instancePos, the projection - lives in the
+    // Y-down space the projection matrix's flip expects, so the pivot's Y
+    // needs the same flip before it's combined with a_position.
+    vec2 normalizedPivot = vec2(
+        (a_instancePivot.x - 0.5) * 2.0,
+        -(a_instancePivot.y - 0.5) * 2.0
+    );
     
     // 1. Apply pivot (move origin)
     vec2 pivoted = a_position - normalizedPivot;
diff --git a/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.test.ts b/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.test.ts
index 334fdf28..54bcafeb 100644
--- a/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.test.ts
+++ b/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.test.ts
@@ -68,21 +68,38 @@ describe('computeNineSliceRegions', () => {
     expect(bottomRight!.offset.y).toBeCloseTo(-120 / 2 + 6 / 2, 5);
   });
 
-  it('places the top-left corner exactly at the anchor when the pivot is (0, 0)', () => {
-    const regions = computeNineSliceRegions(
-      100,
-      100,
-      { x: 0, y: 0 },
-      fullUv.offset,
-      fullUv.scale,
-      { left: 10, right: 10, top: 10, bottom: 10 },
-    );
-
-    const topLeft = regions.find((r) => r.size.x === 10 && r.size.y === 10);
-
-    expect(topLeft).toBeDefined();
-    expect(topLeft!.offset).toEqual({ x: 5, y: -5 });
-  });
+  // Pivot is Y-up (matching SpriteEcsComponent.pivot): (0, 0) is bottom-left
+  // and (1, 1) is top-right. Each case anchors at one corner of the sprite,
+  // so the near corner region's own center lands a half-region-size offset
+  // away from the anchor, signed toward the sprite's interior.
+  it.each([
+    { pivot: { x: 0, y: 0 }, name: 'bottom-left', offset: { x: 5, y: 5 } },
+    { pivot: { x: 1, y: 0 }, name: 'bottom-right', offset: { x: -5, y: 5 } },
+    { pivot: { x: 0, y: 1 }, name: 'top-left', offset: { x: 5, y: -5 } },
+    { pivot: { x: 1, y: 1 }, name: 'top-right', offset: { x: -5, y: -5 } },
+  ])(
+    'places the $name corner exactly at the anchor when the pivot is ($pivot.x, $pivot.y)',
+    ({ pivot, offset }) => {
+      const regions = computeNineSliceRegions(
+        100,
+        100,
+        pivot,
+        fullUv.offset,
+        fullUv.scale,
+        { left: 10, right: 10, top: 10, bottom: 10 },
+      );
+
+      const corner = regions.find(
+        (r) =>
+          r.size.x === 10 &&
+          r.size.y === 10 &&
+          r.offset.x === offset.x &&
+          r.offset.y === offset.y,
+      );
+
+      expect(corner).toBeDefined();
+    },
+  );
 
   it('proportionally clamps insets that would otherwise overlap', () => {
     const regions = computeNineSliceRegions(
diff --git a/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.ts b/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.ts
index 49b10a68..e046fc0b 100644
--- a/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.ts
+++ b/src/rendering/utilities/compute-nine-slice-regions.ts
@@ -182,15 +182,15 @@ function createCellRegions(
           x: xSegment.start + xSegment.size / 2 - pivot.x * width,
           // Negated relative to x (written as a subtraction, not unary `-`,
           y:
-            // so a zero result stays +0 rather than -0): sprite instance data
-            // negates world.y again before it reaches the shader (see
-            // bindSpriteInstanceData), to convert this sprite-space, Y-down
-            // offset (near/top bands start at 0, far/bottom bands end at
-            // `height`) into the engine's Y-up world space. Without this, a
-            // region's own offset and its parent entity's position would be
-            // negated a different number of times, landing near/top bands at
-            // the far/bottom edge and vice versa.
-            pivot.y * height - (ySegment.start + ySegment.size / 2),
+            // so a zero result stays +0 rather than -0): band coordinates
+            // (`ySegment.start`/`.size`) run sprite-space Y-down (near/top
+            // bands start at 0, far/bottom bands end at `height`), but this
+            // offset is added directly to `entityPosition.world`, which is
+            // Y-up. `pivot.y` is also Y-up (public API - `(0, 0)` bottom,
+            // `(1, 1)` top), so `1 - pivot.y` first converts it to the same
+            // Y-down distance-from-top the band coordinates use, before the
+            // subtraction flips the whole result back to Y-up.
+            (1 - pivot.y) * height - (ySegment.start + ySegment.size / 2),
         },
         size: { x: xSegment.size, y: ySegment.size },
         uvOffset: { x: xBand.uvStart, y: yBand.uvStart },
@@ -214,7 +214,9 @@ function createCellRegions(
  * region a non-sliced sprite would render.
  * @param width - The sprite's current width, in unscaled sprite-space units.
  * @param height - The sprite's current height, in unscaled sprite-space units.
- * @param pivot - The sprite's pivot, normalized to its own size.
+ * @param pivot - The sprite's pivot, normalized to its own size and Y-up
+ * (`(0, 0)` is bottom-left, `(1, 1)` is top-right), matching
+ * `SpriteEcsComponent.pivot`.
  * @param uvOffset - The sprite's texture rect offset, 0 to 1.
  * @param uvScale - The sprite's texture rect size, 0 to 1.
  * @param slices - The nine-slice configuration.