ICO to PNG Converter

How to use the ICO to PNG tool

1. Choose one or more .ico or .cur files, or drop them on the box.
2. Keep "Every size" to get all the images inside, or pick "Largest only".
3. Press Convert.
4. Download the PNG you need, or all of them as a ZIP.

An icon file is a bundle of images

An .ico file is not one picture. It is a small container that holds the same icon drawn at several sizes, typically 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 and 256 pixels square, so that Windows, browsers and apps can pick the sharpest one for each place it appears. A website favicon.ico, an application icon or a desktop shortcut icon all work this way.

That is why most image editors and viewers show only one size, or refuse the file altogether. This converter opens the container, finds every image inside it and saves each one as an ordinary PNG file named with its size, so you can see them all and keep the one you need.

What carries over

Every size in the file comes out with its transparency. Modern icons often store the larger sizes as PNG already; those are copied out byte for byte, so nothing is re-compressed and the quality is exactly what the icon designer made. Older icons store their images as bitmaps with a separate one-bit transparency mask; those are decoded, the mask is applied, and the result is saved as a PNG with a proper transparent background.

Cursor files, with the .cur extension, use the same container and are read the same way.

Every size or just the largest

Keep "Every size" when you want to inspect the icon or reuse several sizes, for example to build a set of app icons. Choose "Largest only" when you just need one good image, for a document, a slide or a profile picture; the biggest size is usually 256 pixels and is the sharpest. A small icon cannot be enlarged without blurring, so if the largest size inside is only 32 pixels, that is the most detail the file contains.

Common uses

Web designers use it to pull the original artwork out of an old favicon.ico when the source files are lost. Developers use it to check which sizes a favicon or application icon actually contains before shipping it, since a missing 32 or 48 pixel size makes an icon look blurry in some places. Other people simply want a company or app logo as a normal image for a document or a slide, and the icon file is the only copy they can find. Taking the largest size as a PNG covers all of these.

To go the other way and build an icon from an image, JPG to ICO and BMP to ICO on this site create .ico files.

Privacy

The icon file is read and split in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and nothing is kept after you close the tab.