Reference · 6 min read

Windows icon sizes cheat sheet: every context explained

A Windows .ico is a container. The shell picks the entry closest to what it needs and scales only when it must. Here is what it needs, and where.

01 · The sizes

The sizes and where they show up

At 100 % display scaling. Seven entries cover every place Windows draws an application icon.

IconEditor's Icon sizes panel listing 256 to 16 px with the Windows context each one is used in — The editor's size list carries the same hints: **Taskbar**, **Desktop · Explorer**, **Title bar · list view**.

Size	Where Windows uses it	Priority
16×16	Explorer list/details view, window title bar, taskbar small-icon mode, system tray, browser tabs, Alt+Tab list text rows	Required
24×24	Taskbar buttons (default), Start menu pinned list at 100 %, jump lists	Required
32×32	Explorer small icons, Alt+Tab thumbnails, desktop "small icons", taskbar at 125–150 % scaling, Start pinned apps (Win 11)	Required
48×48	Desktop and Explorer "medium icons" (the default), file-open dialogs, Control Panel	Required
64×64	Explorer medium icons at 125–150 % scaling, UAC prompt	Recommended
128×128	Explorer "large icons" at high DPI, Windows 11 Start "all apps" at 200 %	Recommended
256×256	Explorer "extra large icons", tile/thumbnail views, Properties dialog, any place at 200–300 % scaling	Required

Windows has never used 20, 40 or 96 px entries from an .ico directly; it scales from a neighbour instead. Including them adds bytes without adding sharpness. The seven sizes above are what IconEditor exports.

02 · Scaling

High-DPI displays

At 150 % scaling, a "16-px" title bar icon is really 24 device pixels, and a "48-px" desktop icon is 72. Windows solves this by picking the next entry up (24 and 64 or 128) and scaling from there, which is why the intermediate sizes matter.

On a 4K monitor at 200 %, the 256 entry is doing most of the work even for "medium" icons — one more reason to draw that one carefully.

03 · Pixels

Colour depth and transparency

Store every entry as 32-bit BGRA. 8-bit palette entries were for Windows 98 — nothing needs them today.
The 256 px entry should be PNG-compressed. It is supported since Windows Vista and cuts the file from ~260 KB to a few KB. IconEditor does this automatically; smaller entries stay as classic BMP for compatibility with old resource tools.
A 1-bit AND mask is still written for each BMP entry. Modern Windows ignores it when alpha is present, but some legacy software reads it.

04 · The web

Favicons and the web

Same file, fewer sizes — plus the PNGs that phones want.

Use	Size	Format
Browser tab, bookmarks, history	16, 32	`favicon.ico` (multi-size) or PNG
Pinned tab / high-DPI tab	48, 64	PNG or the same .ico
iOS home screen	180	`apple-touch-icon.png`
Android / PWA	192, 512	PNG via web manifest
Scalable fallback	any	SVG (`rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml"`)

The .ico you export for a Windows app doubles as favicon.ico; add a PNG for Apple and a manifest for Android. The export dialog has the <link> snippet, and the favicon generator page walks through the whole process. To use an .ico on folders and shortcuts instead, see how to change icons on Windows.

The preview's Start menu / browser tab panel uses the 32 and 16 px entries — the same two a favicon needs.

05 · Checklist

Before you ship

01
Draw 256, scale to 48/32/24/16 and retouch those by hand.
02
Export all seven sizes, 32-bit, 256 as PNG.
03
Preview on dark and light backgrounds.
04
Reference the file from your resource script / project file.

Keep reading

More on Windows icons

Workflow · 9 min How to create a great Windows app icon Draw the master, scale down, hand-tune the small sizes, export and wire it in. How-to · 8 min Change icons on Windows 11 and 10 Folders, shortcuts, desktop and drive icons with your own .ico. Support Frequently asked questions Transparency, ICO internals, browser support, privacy.

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The editor is free, needs no account, and exports a Windows-ready .ico with all seven sizes.

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