How to convert PNG to Icon (ICO)
- 1
Upload your file
Drag and drop a file or click to select one. Keep this page open while the file uploads and converts.
- 2
Convert PNG to Icon (ICO)
NexMedia converts PNG to Icon (ICO) on its own servers. Processing time depends on the file size and how busy the queue is.
- 3
Download the converted file
When the conversion finishes, the download appears on this page. Your converted file is kept for 2 hours, then deleted.
About PNG
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a lossless image format created in 1996 as a free replacement for GIF. It supports full colour and an alpha channel for transparency.
Screenshots, logos, icons, diagrams and any image with text or sharp edges.
For photos a PNG is several times larger than a JPEG, and plain PNG has no animation (that is APNG).
Convert PNG to ICO online free, no account required — ICO is the icon format of Windows and website favicons.
Change PNG to ICO without losing quality — convert PNG to ICO free in your browser.
Why is my PNG so much bigger than the same photo as JPG? PNG stores every pixel losslessly, which is ideal for screenshots and graphics but wasteful for photos — JPG or WebP compress photographs far more efficiently.
About Icon (ICO)
ICO is the Windows icon format. One .ico file can hold several images of the same icon at different sizes.
Website favicons and the icons of Windows programs and shortcuts.
Each image in an ICO file can be at most 256 × 256 pixels, so the format is not suited to photos.
Why convert an image to ICO? A website favicon needs it — browsers ask for favicon.ico, and one ICO file carries every size from 16 to 256 pixels.
What changes when you convert PNG to ICO
- The PNG picture is re-encoded as ICO at the default quality settings, so it looks close to the original but is not bit-identical.
Settings you can change
Before you convert PNG to ICO, you can adjust: Width, Height, Scale fit, Crop position, Never enlarge, Quality, Lossless, Progressive, Remove metadata, Auto-orient from EXIF, Rotate, and Background.
Limits
Each plan sets a maximum file size and a number of conversions per day, and video and audio files also have a maximum length. Guests can convert files up to 100 megabytes and 5 per day; a free account raises this to 500 megabytes and 25 per day; paid plans go up to 100 gigabytes.
Your converted ICO file is kept for 2 hours, then deleted.
PNG to ICO: questions and answers
Does converting PNG to ICO reduce quality?
The PNG picture is re-encoded as ICO at the default quality settings, so it looks close to the original but is not bit-identical.
What is the difference between PNG and ICO?
PNG is a lossless image format with transparency. ICO is the icon format of Windows and website favicons.
Can I change the settings when converting PNG to ICO?
Before you convert PNG to ICO, you can adjust: Width, Height, Scale fit, Crop position, Never enlarge, Quality, Lossless, Progressive, Remove metadata, Auto-orient from EXIF, Rotate, and Background.
Do I need an account to convert PNG to ICO?
No. You can convert PNG to ICO without an account; signing in raises the file-size and daily limits.
How long is my converted ICO file kept?
The ICO file you convert from PNG is kept for 2 hours, then deleted automatically.
Is the ICO an exact copy of my PNG?
The PNG picture is re-encoded as ICO at the default quality settings, so it looks close to the original but is not bit-identical.
Will converting PNG to ICO change my original file?
No. The conversion reads your PNG and writes a new ICO file, leaving your original PNG file untouched.