PNG to ICO

How to convert PNG to ICO

1. Tap Choose pictures and select your logo or picture. A square PNG of 256 pixels or more gives the best result.
2. Choose the sizes: the favicon set, or the full Windows set.
3. Press Make ICO, then Save icon.

What an ICO file is

An ICO file is a small container that holds the same picture at several sizes. The program showing it picks the size it needs: 16 pixels in a browser tab, 32 on a taskbar, 256 in a folder view. Because each size is stored separately, each can be sharp, where a single picture scaled on the fly would be blurry at one end or the other.

Using it as a favicon

With the first set of sizes this page works as a favicon generator. Name the saved file favicon.ico and put it in the top folder of your website. Browsers look for it there by themselves. To be explicit, add this line inside the head of your pages:

<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="any">

Browsers keep favicons for a long time. If the old one still shows after you replace it, open the icon's address directly and reload, or try a private window.

Getting a good result at 16 pixels

• Start square. A picture that is not square is centred with see-through bars and never stretched, but it will look small.
• Keep it simple. A single letter or a bold shape survives at 16 pixels. A full logo with a wordmark turns into a smudge.
• Use strong contrast. Tabs are light in some browsers and dark in others. A shape that relies on a thin dark outline disappears on a dark tab.
• Fill the square. Empty margin around the artwork wastes the few pixels there are.
• Start large. Reducing from 256 or 512 pixels gives cleaner small sizes than enlarging from 32.

Transparency and formats

A transparent background in the PNG stays transparent in the icon, so it sits cleanly on any tab or desktop colour. A JPG has no transparency, so an icon made from one has a solid background. An SVG is drawn at full sharpness for each size.

Inside the file, each size is stored as a PNG. This is the modern form of ICO and is read by every current browser and by Windows Vista and later. To prepare the artwork first, crop image makes it square and SVG to PNG turns a vector logo into a picture.

Questions

How do I make a favicon.ico from a PNG?

Choose the PNG, keep the sizes on 16, 32 and 48, press Make ICO, and save the file as favicon.ico in the top folder of your site.

What size should a favicon be?

An ICO with 16, 32 and 48 pixel versions covers browser tabs, bookmarks and shortcuts. Start from a square picture of at least 256 pixels.

Can I convert JPG to ICO?

Yes. JPG, WebP and SVG are accepted as well as PNG. A JPG has no transparency, so the icon will have a solid background.

Does the icon keep a transparent background?

Yes, if the picture you start from has one.

Can I use the ICO as a Windows folder or shortcut icon?

Yes. Choose the 16 to 256 set, so Windows has a sharp version for every view.

Last reviewed 10 October 2026.