Drop an ICO file and extract all embedded PNG images. Get every size individually or as a ZIP. Perfect for favicons and Windows icons.
Last updated: July 2026
All Sizes
Extracted
PNG
Output
Individual or ZIP
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.
Drop or select your ICO
Nothing is uploaded. Extraction starts automatically on drop.
Review the extracted sizes
Every embedded size appears as a labeled thumbnail.
Download individually or as ZIP
One click per size, or all at once if more than one size exists.
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 image as a standalone PNG, regardless of whether the original ICO stored it as PNG or legacy bitmap data.
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 still extract as standard PNG here, though very old files can occasionally show minor differences depending on how the decoder handles the legacy format.
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 whatever the ICO contains internally, this tool always hands you back a standard PNG. For modern PNG-based ICO files, the alpha channel and transparency carry over cleanly. 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 legacy BMP internals still extract as PNG here too, though results can vary slightly on very old files, since those used a different transparency mechanism than PNG's alpha channel, and how well that translates depends on the underlying decoding library rather than something this tool controls directly.
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.
Trying to select multiple ICO files from the file picker
Clicking to browse only allows one file at a time. To process several ICO files in one go, drag and drop them all onto the tool instead, each one is handled independently.
Expecting a ZIP download for a single-size ICO
The ZIP option only appears when more than one size was extracted. A minimal favicon with just one embedded size downloads directly as a single PNG.
Assuming a legacy BMP-based icon will look pixel-identical after extraction
Very old ICO files used a different transparency method before PNG-in-ICO support existed. Extraction still works, but results can vary slightly depending on the underlying decoder, unlike modern PNG-based ICO files, which extract cleanly.
Expecting a way to pick which sizes get extracted
There's no selection step, every embedded size is extracted automatically. You choose what to keep at the download stage instead.
Confusing this with the PNG to ICO tool
This page only goes one direction, from ICO to PNG. To build a new favicon.ico from a PNG or JPEG, use the PNG to ICO or JPG to ICO tools instead.
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, converting the output to PNG either way, regardless of whether the source was internally BMP or PNG.
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.
Yes. If the ICO file contains more than one size, a "Download all as ZIP" button appears alongside the individual size options, bundling every extracted PNG into one archive. If the ICO only contains a single size, there's nothing to bundle, so only the individual download is shown.
Clicking to browse for a file only lets you pick one ICO at a time. However, if you drag and drop multiple ICO files onto the tool at once, each one is processed independently, with its own set of extracted sizes and its own download options.
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.
The tool always outputs standard PNG files regardless of how the source ICO stored its images internally. For most icons this is seamless. Very old icons that used the legacy bitmap transparency mask (from before PNG-in-ICO support existed) can occasionally extract with slightly different results, since that depends on how the underlying decoding library interprets the older format, rather than something this tool controls directly.
No, there's no selection step for extraction. Every size embedded in the ICO file is extracted automatically, and you choose which ones to download afterward from the results.
No sign-up. No uploads. Drop your ICO file above and download the extracted PNGs in seconds.
