ICO to PNG Converter
Convert ICO favicon files to PNG format online for free. No upload required — extracts the highest resolution image from ICO containers, entirely in your browser.
How to Use
Extract images from ICO files in seconds:
- Upload your ICO file — Drag and drop the .ico file onto the upload area, or click to browse.
- Click "Convert to PNG" — The largest image inside the ICO container is extracted.
- Download the PNG — Save the extracted image to your device.
About This Tool
ICO (Windows Icon) is a container format developed by Microsoft for storing multiple image sizes and color depths within a single file. Each ICO file contains a directory listing one or more image entries, where each entry can be stored as either a BMP DIB (Device Independent Bitmap) or an embedded PNG. The format supports sizes from 1x1 up to 256x256 pixels and color depths from 1-bit (monochrome) to 32-bit (true color with alpha transparency).
The ICO format is primarily used for two purposes: Windows application icons and website favicons. Windows uses ICO files for desktop shortcuts, taskbar icons, and file type associations. Web browsers use favicon.ico (placed at the website root) to display site icons in tabs, bookmarks, and history. Modern browsers also accept PNG favicons via <link rel="icon">, but many sites still serve .ico files for broadest compatibility.
The ICO container format has a simple binary structure: a 6-byte header specifying the file type and entry count, followed by 16-byte directory entries describing each image (dimensions, bit depth, data size, and byte offset), then the actual image data at those offsets. Modern ICO files typically embed PNG-compressed images for sizes 48x48 and above, while smaller sizes may use uncompressed BMP DIB format.
This converter parses the ICO binary structure, identifies the highest-resolution image entry, and extracts it as PNG. If the entry is already stored as PNG, it is extracted directly. If stored as BMP DIB, the pixel data is decoded and re-encoded as PNG with full alpha transparency preserved.
Why Use This Tool
When to extract PNG from ICO files:
- Favicon analysis — Extract and inspect a website's favicon for design research, competitive analysis, or documentation.
- Design asset recovery — When the original PNG source for an icon is lost, extracting from the ICO file recovers the highest-quality version available.
- Cross-platform use — ICO files only work on Windows. Extracting to PNG makes icons usable on macOS, Linux, and web applications.
- Icon editing — Most image editors cannot open ICO files directly. Converting to PNG allows editing in Photoshop, GIMP, Figma, or any standard image editor.
- Documentation and mockups — When building wireframes or documentation that reference application or website icons, PNG is the standard format for embedding.