ICO vs TGA — Differences, File Size & When to Use Each

Q: What is an ICO file?

ICO (Icon) is Microsoft's 1985 multi-resolution icon format, originally shipped with Windows 1.0. A single .ico file holds multiple sizes (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 256×256) so the OS can pick the best one for the current display context. Since 1999, every website uses a favicon.ico to show its icon in browser tabs.

Q: How do I open an ICO file?

On Windows, ICO files open natively in File Explorer and Photos. On macOS, Preview handles basic display. For editing, use GIMP (free), Photoshop with a plugin, or dedicated icon editors like IcoFX.

Q: How do I convert PNG to ICO?

Use the PNG-to-ICO converter on KaijuConverter — upload a PNG (ideally square, at least 256×256) and download a multi-resolution ICO with all standard favicon sizes embedded.

Q: What size should a favicon.ico be?

A complete favicon pack includes 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, and 256×256 px variants all in one ICO file. The total file size is typically 5-15 KB. Browsers automatically pick the right size for tabs, bookmarks, and desktop shortcuts.

Q: ICO vs PNG for web icons: which?

ICO for /favicon.ico (every browser requests this URL automatically). PNG for everywhere else — social media profile images, in-page icons, app logos. Modern favicon best practice includes both an .ico at the root and multiple .png sizes referenced via tags in HTML.

ICO vs TGA

Ein detaillierter Vergleich von ICO Icon und TGA Image — Dateigröße, Qualität, Kompatibilität und welches je nach Workflow zu wählen ist.

TGA → ICO umwandeln

ICO

ICO Icon

Raster & Vector Images

ICO is the icon file format used for favicons and Windows application icons. A single ICO file can contain multiple image sizes and color depths for different display contexts.

Über ICO-Dateien

TGA

TGA Image

Raster & Vector Images

TGA (Targa) is a raster graphics format used in game development and video editing.

Über TGA-Dateien

Vorteilsvergleich

ICO Vorteile

Multi-resolution: one file, many sizes, OS picks the right one.
Universal favicon support in every browser since IE5.
Supports transparency (1-bit since 1985, full alpha since XP).
Tiny file size — an entire favicon pack typically fits in under 15 KB.
No licensing or patent concerns — fully in the public domain spec-wise.

TGA Vorteile

Extremely simple — trivially easy to read and write.
Lossless with optional RLE compression.
Supports 8, 16, 24, and 32-bit color with alpha channel.
Universal in legacy game development and 3D rendering pipelines.

Einschränkungen

ICO Einschränkungen

Cannot compress continuous-tone images efficiently — use PNG or WebP for photos.
Format is essentially frozen in 1999 — no HDR, no wide gamut, no modern features.
Maximum image dimension is 256×256 px (inside an ICO container).
Editing requires specialized tools — most image editors treat it as a curiosity.

TGA Einschränkungen

No metadata, no color profile, no gamma correction.
Aging — PNG and EXR cover its use cases with better compression.
Bottom-up pixel order trips up newcomer parsers.
Not a web format — browsers don't display TGA natively.

Technische Spezifikationen

Spezifikation	ICO	TGA
MIME type	image/vnd.microsoft.icon	image/x-targa
Max resolutions per file	65 535 images	—
Max single image size	256×256 px	—
Color depths	1, 4, 8, 24, 32 bits per pixel	—
Compression	Uncompressed bitmap or embedded PNG (Vista+)	None or Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Extensions	—	.tga, .icb, .vda, .vst
Bit depths	—	8, 16, 24, 32 bits per pixel
Byte order	—	Little-endian

Typische Dateigrößen

ICO

Classic favicon (16×16 only) < 2 KB
Multi-size favicon pack (16/32/48/256) 5-15 KB
Full Windows app icon set 20-100 KB

TGA

512×512 game texture (uncompressed) ~768 KB
2K render output (uncompressed) ~12 MB
4K render with alpha (RLE) 20-40 MB

Bereit zum Umwandeln?

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TGA zu ICO umwandeln

Häufig gestellte Fragen

ICO (Icon) is Microsoft's 1985 multi-resolution icon format, originally shipped with Windows 1.0. A single .ico file holds multiple sizes (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 256×256) so the OS can pick the best one for the current display context. Since 1999, every website uses a favicon.ico to show its icon in browser tabs.

On Windows, ICO files open natively in File Explorer and Photos. On macOS, Preview handles basic display. For editing, use GIMP (free), Photoshop with a plugin, or dedicated icon editors like IcoFX.

Use the PNG-to-ICO converter on KaijuConverter — upload a PNG (ideally square, at least 256×256) and download a multi-resolution ICO with all standard favicon sizes embedded.

A complete favicon pack includes 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, and 256×256 px variants all in one ICO file. The total file size is typically 5-15 KB. Browsers automatically pick the right size for tabs, bookmarks, and desktop shortcuts.

ICO for /favicon.ico (every browser requests this URL automatically). PNG for everywhere else — social media profile images, in-page icons, app logos. Modern favicon best practice includes both an .ico at the root and multiple .png sizes referenced via <link> tags in HTML.

Yes. Every browser still requests /favicon.ico on every domain as its first icon fallback. Modern sites typically provide both favicon.ico and higher-quality SVG or PNG icons via <link rel="icon"> tags — browsers pick the best match.