Image to ICO Converter
Turn a PNG or JPG into a Windows .ico icon file. It runs entirely in your browser, so the file never leaves your computer.
Why icon files hold several pictures
Windows shows the same icon at wildly different sizes — 16 pixels in a title bar, 256 on a large desktop tile. Rather than scaling one image badly to fit all of them, a .ico file packs several sizes inside a single file and Windows picks the right one.
This matters more than it sounds. A 256-pixel image squeezed down to 16 pixels by the operating system turns to mush; a 16-pixel version drawn deliberately stays legible.
What the free converters leave out
Most of the quick online icon makers write a single size into the file and call it done. The icon then looks correct on the desktop and like a smear in the taskbar.
Every icon this builds contains all seven standard Windows sizes — 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128 and 256 — in one file. That is the part worth getting right, and it costs nothing to do properly.
Non-square images, and transparency
Icons are square. If yours is not, you choose what happens: pad it to a square and keep the whole image, crop to the centre, or stretch it. Padding is almost always the right answer for a logo.
A transparent PNG keeps its transparency through the conversion, so the icon sits cleanly on any background instead of carrying a visible box around it.
Questions
Common questions
What does this tool do?
It converts an ordinary image (PNG, JPG, and similar) into a Windows .ico icon file — the format Windows uses for program icons, folder icons, and shortcuts.
How do I make an icon?
Drag an image onto the page, or click to choose one. The tool builds the .ico, then you download it. You can drop several images at once to convert them in a batch.
What sizes does the icon include?
Each .ico is built with all the standard Windows sizes inside one file (16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128, and 256 pixels), so Windows can show the right size everywhere it's used. The cheap web converters often skip this.
What if my image isn't square?
Icons are square, so for a non-square image you can choose how to handle it — pad it to a square, crop it to a square, or stretch it. Padding keeps the whole image; cropping keeps the center.
Does it keep transparency?
Yes. If your PNG has a transparent background, the icon keeps it, so it sits cleanly on any background instead of showing a box behind it.
Is my image private?
Completely. The conversion happens entirely on your own computer in the browser — your image is never uploaded or sent anywhere.
How do I turn the .ico back into a PNG?
Use the companion ICO to PNG Extractor tool — it opens an .ico and lets you save any size inside it as a PNG.
Our own software
Dictate it instead of typing it
Hold a key, say the sentence, and the words land in whatever Windows window you were already in. Runs on your own PC — no account, no upload, nothing to renew.
$79 launch price · $99 regular · buy once
Our own software
The photo app that finds the picture
Search thirty thousand photos by what is actually in them rather than by filename, and open the formats a browser cannot — HEIC from a phone among them. Same rules as everything here: it runs on your own machine and you buy it once.
In build · tell us where to send the release note