Drop an ICO file and extract all embedded PNG images. Get every size individually. Perfect for favicons and Windows icons.
All Sizes
Extracted
PNG
Output
Individual
Downloads
Private
No Uploads
Each size embedded in the ICO file is extracted as a separate PNG. Most favicons contain 2 to 4 sizes.
Drop ICO files here or click to browse
All processing stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
ICO is Microsoft's icon container format, introduced with Windows 1.0 in 1985. It stores one or more images at different sizes and color depths so the operating system can pick the best version for each context: browser tab, taskbar, desktop shortcut, and so on.
Modern ICO files use PNG data internally. When you convert a PNG to ICO and embed multiple sizes, the ICO file is essentially a wrapper around those PNG blobs. This tool unwraps them and gives you back each embedded PNG as a standalone file.
Website favicons
favicon.ico files typically contain 16x16, 32x32 and sometimes 48x48 PNG images.
Windows application icons
App ICO files often include 16, 32, 48, 64, 128 and 256 pixel sizes for different display contexts.
Older bitmap ICO files
Pre-Vista ICO files contain BMP data instead of PNG. These extract as PNG but may have slight rendering differences.
Minimal favicons
Some websites only embed a single size, usually 32x32 or 48x48. The tool extracts whatever is present.
Most image formats store one image. A JPEG is a photo. A PNG is a graphic. An ICO file is something different: it's a container that holds multiple images at once, each at a different size, bundled into a single file. The operating system or browser opens the container, looks at what sizes are available, and picks the one that fits the context it needs. The 16x16 version goes in the browser tab. The 32x32 version shows up in the Windows taskbar. The 48x48 might appear in a folder view or network share. Nothing is scaled. The right size is simply selected.
This is why ICO files have survived for 40 years in an industry that discards formats constantly. A single ICO file serves every display context without any app having to do its own downscaling. The tradeoff is that ICO files are genuinely awkward to work with. You can't open one in Photoshop without a plugin. Preview on macOS shows only the largest embedded size. Windows Explorer renders it correctly, but only because the OS has native ICO support baked in. Everywhere else, you're either fighting plugin support or getting a partial view of what's actually inside.
Before Windows Vista, ICO files stored their images as uncompressed BMP data. A 256x256 icon at 32-bit color depth took up about 262KB just for that one size inside the container. Vista introduced support for embedding full PNG data directly inside ICO files, which dropped the size of a 256x256 entry from around 262KB to roughly 5 to 15KB depending on the image. Modern ICO files, and especially any favicon generated in the last decade, are almost certainly wrapping PNG data internally.
This matters for extraction because it means what you get out is a proper PNG, not a converted BMP. The alpha channel is preserved exactly. The transparency works. If you extract a 32x32 PNG from a modern favicon.ico and drop it into Figma or Sketch, it behaves like any other PNG you'd have created from scratch. Older ICO files with BMP internals still extract correctly here, but you may notice the transparency handling is slightly different since those files used a different masking technique before PNG's alpha channel was available.
The most common reason is that you need a specific size for a specific platform. Apple's iOS requires a 180x180 PNG for the home screen icon. Android's web app manifest wants 192x192 and 512x512. Neither platform reads ICO files. If you have an existing favicon.ico but not the original source assets, you can't just hand the ICO to these platforms and call it done. You need the individual PNGs pulled out.
Design tools are the other common scenario. If you're pulling a logo or brand asset out of a favicon.ico to use in a presentation or document, you need a PNG, not an ICO. The 32x32 is usually fine for small inline use. If you need a larger version and the ICO only has sizes up to 48x48, the resize tool can scale it up. And if you're going the other direction and need to build a new ICO from a PNG you already have, the PNG to ICO converter handles that with multiple embedded sizes in one step.
An ICO file is a container that holds one or more images at different sizes. Historically these were bitmap images, but since Windows Vista, ICO files commonly embed PNG images directly. A typical website favicon.ico contains 2 to 4 sizes, usually 16x16, 32x32 and sometimes 48x48. This tool extracts each embedded image as a separate PNG file.
Common reasons: you want to use a website's favicon in another context (presentation, document, design file), you are editing an existing favicon and want the source image, you have an application icon and need it as a PNG for use in other software, or you are debugging why a favicon looks wrong at a particular size.
It depends on what sizes are embedded in the ICO file. A simple favicon might contain 2 to 3 sizes. A Windows application icon might contain 6 or more. The tool extracts all sizes it finds and lets you download each one individually.
No. The extraction runs entirely in your browser using the icojs library. Your ICO file never leaves your device.
The tool extracts every image embedded in the ICO file. If you expected more sizes, the original ICO file may not contain them. Not all ICO files contain all sizes. Some minimal favicons only embed 16x16 and 32x32.
