SVG to ICO
Convert SVG to ICO in your browser. The vector is rendered at 16, 32 and 48 pixels and the renders are packed into one classic favicon.ico — each size drawn from the vector directly, not scaled down from one big bitmap.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded, no account needed.
How it works
An .ico is not one image — it is a container that holds several sizes of the same image, and the browser or operating system picks whichever fits the context: 16 px for a tab, 32 px for a pinned tab or taskbar, 48 px for a desktop shortcut. This tool renders your SVG at each of those sizes on a canvas — every render drawn from the vector directly, not scaled down from one big bitmap — and packs the PNGs into the container format, all in the tab. The file never leaves your machine.
Rendering each size independently is the whole point of the format. A 16 px icon scaled down from a 256 px render turns to mush; a 16 px icon rendered at 16 px keeps its edges on the pixel grid. That is also why the previews above are shown at their true sizes — what you see is pixel-for-pixel what ships.
What is actually inside the file
The container is written here byte by byte, and there is refreshingly little of it: a 6-byte header saying "this is an icon file, holding N images", then a 16-byte directory entry per image recording its pixel size, bit depth, data length and offset, then the image data itself. The format dates from Windows 3.0 and originally carried uncompressed bitmaps; since Windows Vista an entry may instead be a complete PNG, data verbatim, and that is what this tool writes — so a three-size icon is roughly the sum of three small PNGs plus 54 bytes of bookkeeping. Every browser and every version of Windows still in service reads PNG-compressed entries. Each entry is declared 32 bits per pixel, meaning full 8-bit alpha: the transparency in your SVG arrives intact, with none of the 1-bit mask crudeness of old-style icons. The per-size byte readouts next to the checkboxes are the real sizes of those PNGs, so you can see exactly what each size costs before you commit to it.
Choosing which sizes to include
The default — all three of 16, 32 and 48 — is right for almost everyone, and at PNG sizes the whole file usually stays under a few kilobytes, so thrift is rarely a reason to drop one. Consider the checkboxes instead as a fidelity decision. If the 16 px preview is illegible no matter what, some designers ship 32 and 48 only and let the browser scale 32 down, judging a slightly soft tab icon better than a sharp-but-wrong one; the more honest fix is to simplify the mark itself in the editor until 16 px reads. Dropping 48 saves the most bytes and costs only Windows desktop-shortcut sharpness. Whatever you choose, each included size is rendered fresh from the vector, contain-fitted and centred, with either transparency preserved or a white matte behind it — white being the safer choice when the mark is dark line art that would vanish against a dark taskbar.
When you still need an .ico
Modern browsers accept an SVG favicon, and for them the best answer is the vector itself with a <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml">. But favicon.ico refuses to die: Safari ignores SVG favicons, older browsers and corporate webviews never learned them, RSS readers and bookmark managers request /favicon.ico by convention without reading your HTML at all, and Windows uses it for pinned sites and shortcuts. Shipping a real .ico at the site root alongside the SVG covers every one of those cases for a few kilobytes.
Just the file, or the full set?
This page produces exactly one artefact: favicon.ico. If you are setting up a site's icons from scratch you probably want the favicon generator instead — it produces the same .ico plus the 180 px apple-touch-icon, the 192 and 512 px PWA manifest icons, and the head markup that references them all. Come here when the rest of that set already exists and one .ico is the only thing missing — a legacy project, an intranet app, an emailed request from IT. And if what you have is a PNG logo rather than an SVG, run it through the PNG to SVG converter first; icons rendered from a traced vector beat icons squashed down from a bitmap.
Common problems
- The 16 px render is unreadable. Not a bug — a 16 × 16 grid simply cannot carry thin strokes, small text or fine detail. The preview shows it at true size precisely so you find out now. Thicken strokes and cut ornament in the editor, then re-drop the file.
- Nothing renders at all. The SVG references an external image or font, which the rasteriser will not fetch. Inline the image as a data URI, or convert text with Text to Path, and try again.
- The new icon doesn't show in the tab. Favicon caches are notoriously sticky. Serve the file with a changed URL (
/favicon.ico?v=2) or check in a private window before concluding the file is wrong. - An icon validator complains about the bit depth. Some old validators expect BMP-style entries and misread PNG-compressed ones. The file is fine — the PNG-in-ICO layout has been standard since Vista, and browsers read it without complaint.
Questions
Is this SVG to ICO converter free?
Yes. Converting SVG to ICO here is free, with no account, no watermark and no limit on conversions. The site is funded by advertising.
Does the ICO keep transparency?
Yes. Each size is stored as a PNG with a full 8-bit alpha channel, so the transparency in your SVG survives exactly — soft edges included, not the jagged 1-bit cut-outs of old-style icons. Choose the White background option only when you want a matte baked in.
Why does one .ico contain three images?
Because the icon appears at several sizes — 16 px in a tab, 32 px in a taskbar, 48 px on a desktop shortcut — and scaling one bitmap to all of them looks bad at the small end. The container holds a purpose-rendered image per size and the browser or OS picks the closest fit.
Which sizes should I tick?
All three, normally — the whole file is usually a few kilobytes. Drop 48 px if every byte matters and you accept softer Windows shortcuts. The per-size byte counts shown next to the checkboxes tell you exactly what each one costs.
Does it need a 256 px size?
Not for a favicon — browsers request 16 to 48 px. The 256 px entry matters for Windows application icons with large-icon views, which is a different job; this tool is aimed at the web use.
Will the ICO work in every browser and Windows version?
Yes for anything current. The file stores PNG-compressed entries, which every modern browser reads, and Windows has accepted since Vista. Only genuinely ancient environments — Windows XP era — expected uncompressed bitmaps.
Is my SVG uploaded to convert it?
No. The renders happen on a canvas in your browser and the container bytes are assembled there too. There is no server-side step and nothing to upload.
Why does the 16 px preview look blocky?
It is shown pixel-for-pixel deliberately, because that is what a tab will display. If it reads as mush, the mark has more detail than 256 pixels can hold — simplify the drawing rather than fighting the render.
What file name should I use, and where does it go?
Name it favicon.ico and put it at the site root, so it answers at /favicon.ico. Many clients — RSS readers, bookmark managers, some crawlers — request that path by convention without ever reading your HTML.
Do I still need an .ico if I have an SVG favicon?
Usually, yes. Safari does not use SVG favicons, older browsers and embedded webviews never supported them, and various tools request /favicon.ico directly. Ship the SVG for browsers that take it and the .ico as the universal fallback.
Can I convert a PNG logo to ICO here?
Not directly — this tool takes SVG in. Trace the PNG into a vector first with the PNG to SVG converter, tidy it up, then convert here; the small renders come out cleaner from a vector than from a downscaled bitmap.
Notes
- Each size is rasterised independently from the vector, so the 16 px render is as sharp as the 48 px one — the reason .ico holds multiple images at all.
- Only need the one file? This is the tool. For the apple-touch-icon, manifest PNGs and the head markup too, use the favicon generator.
- Browsers pick the closest size in the container — 16 for tabs, 32 for pinned tabs and taskbars, 48 for desktop shortcuts.