This article is devoted to the partial difference quad-graph equations that
can be represented in the form φ(u(i+1,j),u(i+1,j+1))=ψ(u(i,j),u(i,j+1)), where the map (w,z)→(φ(w,z),ψ(w,z))
is injective. The transformation v(i,j)=φ(u(i,j),u(i,j+1)) relates any
of such equations to a quad-graph equation. It is proved that this
transformation maps Darboux integrable equations of the above form into Darboux
integrable equations again and decreases the orders of the transformed
integrals by one in the j-direction. As an application of this fact, the
Darboux integrable equations possessing integrals of the second order in the
j-direction are described under an additional assumption. The transformation
also maps symmetries of the original equations into symmetries of the
transformed equations (i.e. preserves the integrability in the sense of the
symmetry approach) and acts as a difference substitution for symmetries of a
special form. The latter fact allows us to derive necessary conditions of
Darboux integrability for the equations defined in the first sentence of the
abstract