Favicon Generator

DEVELOPER FAVICON ICO PNG WEB

About this tool

Generate favicons in all sizes from any image or text — download ready-to-use ICO, PNG and SVG files.

Generate favicons in all sizes from any image or text — download ready-to-use ICO, PNG and SVG files. Free, client-side, no signup.

RT-DEV-060 · Developer Tools

Drop an image here, or click to browse

PNG · JPG · SVG · WebP · Max 2MB

Text (1–3 chars)

Font

Background

#E8622A

Text

#FFFFFF

Live preview:

32×32

All Sizes Preview

16×16

32×32 (favicon.ico)

48×48

180×180 (Apple)

192×192 (PWA)

512×512 (PWA)

HTML Snippet — paste inside <head>

<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon-16x16.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon-32x32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="48x48" href="/favicon-48x48.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="manifest" href="/site.webmanifest">

Upload an image or switch to Text / Emoji to generate your favicons.

How to Use the Favicon Generator

Upload an image or switch to Text / Emoji

In Image Upload mode, drag and drop or browse for a PNG, JPG, SVG or WebP file up to 2MB. In Text / Emoji mode, type 1–3 characters, pick a font, and choose background and text colours.

Preview all sizes in the grid

All six favicon sizes render instantly: 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 180×180, 192×192 and 512×512. Check they look sharp at 16×16 — that is the size most users will see in browser tabs.

Click Download All to get all favicon sizes

Hit Download All Files to download all six PNG files (including favicon.ico and apple-touch-icon.png) as individual downloads. Or click any individual size card to download just that size.

Copy the HTML snippet and paste it in your <head>

Click Copy Snippet to copy the ready-to-use <link> tags. Paste them inside the <head> section of your website. Upload the downloaded image files to your web server's root directory and you're done.

Favicons — The 16-Pixel Brand Identity Every Website Needs

Why Every Website Needs a Favicon and What Happens Without One

Open any browser and look at the tabs. Every tab shows a small square icon next to the page title — that is the favicon. When a website doesn't have one, the browser shows a generic "blank page" icon, a subtle but unmistakable signal that the site is unfinished or unprofessional.

The impact of a missing favicon extends well beyond visual polish. Every browser automatically sends an HTTP request to /favicon.ico when it loads a page — regardless of whether you've specified one. If the file doesn't exist, your server logs fill with 404 Not Found errors, hundreds or thousands of times per day. This adds unnecessary noise to your error monitoring, wastes a small but real amount of bandwidth, and can interfere with CDN caching layers.

Favicons also appear in bookmarks, browser history, desktop shortcuts (when users "pin" your site) and in rich search results on Google mobile. Google Search Console now shows favicons next to page titles in mobile search results — making a clear, well-designed favicon a factor in click-through rate from search. ASEAN startups launching new products often skip favicons because their priority is the mobile app experience — but their web presence suffers for it.

Favicon Sizes in 2026: ICO, PNG, SVG and the Apple Touch Icon Explained

The favicon.ico format dates back to Internet Explorer 5 in 1999 — it is a Windows ICO container that can hold multiple image sizes (16×16, 32×32 and 48×48) in a single file. Modern browsers still support it for backwards compatibility, and placing a favicon.ico in your web root guarantees coverage across every browser ever made.

PNG favicons are the modern approach: one file per size, declared in the HTML <head> with specific sizes attributes. Most current browsers prefer PNG favicons over ICO when both are declared. The 32×32 PNG covers standard browser tabs and bookmarks. The 64×64 and 128×128 sizes cover macOS Dock icons and high-DPI Windows taskbar entries.

SVG favicons are now supported in Chrome, Firefox and Edge — allowing a single scalable vector file that looks perfect at any size, including on Retina/high-DPI displays. Safari does not support SVG favicons as of 2026, which is why PNG fallbacks remain necessary.

"Your favicon is the most-seen element of your brand — every open tab, every bookmark, every desktop shortcut shows it. Yet most ASEAN startups launch without one."

The Apple Touch Icon (180×180 PNG) is a separate file used when iOS users tap "Add to Home Screen." It becomes the icon on their iPhone or iPad home screen — indistinguishable from a native app icon. Without it, iOS will screenshot your website at a low resolution and use that instead, which often looks terrible.

PWA icons (192×192 and 512×512) are declared in your site.webmanifest file and used when users install your Progressive Web App on Android home screens and app drawers. The 512×512 version is used for splash screens on Android during app startup.

Building Your Brand Identity from 16 Pixels: Favicon Design Tips for ASEAN Startups

The hardest design constraint in digital branding is the 16×16 pixel favicon. At that size, a detailed logo becomes unrecognisable — fine lines disappear, multiple colours merge together, and text below 8px in size becomes illegible. The most effective favicons use a single letter, a simplified logomark, or an icon with strong geometric shapes and high contrast.

Singapore's government agencies have solved this well. MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), HDB and CPF Board all use simplified versions of their logomarks at favicon size — high contrast, one or two colours, geometrically clear. Grab uses a plain "G" on a green background. Gojek uses a stylised star. Many ASEAN fintechs use their first letter with a distinctive colour — simple but immediately recognisable.

The design principles that make great favicons: use no more than two colours; ensure strong contrast between foreground and background; avoid fine lines thinner than 2px at 16×16; test at actual size before committing. This tool's Text / Emoji mode lets you preview any letter or emoji at all six sizes before downloading, so you can iterate quickly without any design software.

For startups in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and across the ASEAN region who are building their first web presence: a favicon takes five minutes with this tool and immediately makes your site look finished and trustworthy. It is one of the highest-impact, lowest-effort improvements you can make to any website.

10 Facts About Favicons

The favicon (favicon.ico) was introduced by Internet Explorer 5 in 1999 — originally appearing only in the browser's Favorites menu, not in tabs.

Modern browsers automatically request /favicon.ico from every website — a missing favicon generates 404 errors in server logs thousands of times per day.

The Apple Touch Icon (apple-touch-icon.png) was introduced with the original iPhone in 2007 — when users "Add to Home Screen," this 180×180px image becomes the app icon.

SVG favicons are now supported in Chrome, Firefox and Edge — allowing single scalable favicon files that look perfect at any size, including on Retina displays.

Progressive Web App (PWA) icons require 192×192 and 512×512 PNG images declared in the web app manifest — enabling app-like installation on Android home screens.

The ICO file format can contain multiple images at different resolutions — a single favicon.ico typically includes 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48 pixel versions.

Google's search results show favicons next to page titles in mobile search — making a well-designed favicon important for click-through rate from search results.

Singapore's SingPass app icon and favicon follow IMDA's brand guidelines for government digital services — requiring specific sizes and formats for all government-linked websites.

Canva, one of the most popular design tools in ASEAN, added a favicon generator feature in 2022 — reflecting the high demand from small business owners and bloggers.

A favicon that is clearly visible at 16×16 pixels typically uses only 1–3 colours and 1–2 simple shapes — complexity that looks great at 512×512 often becomes unrecognisable at 16×16.

Frequently Asked Questions

A favicon is the small icon that appears in browser tabs, bookmarks, history lists, and desktop shortcuts for your website. Without one, browsers show a generic blank-page icon, making your site look unfinished. Every browser also automatically requests /favicon.ico — so a missing favicon generates 404 errors in your server logs on every page load. A favicon is one of the fastest, highest-impact improvements you can make to any website.
You need multiple sizes for different use cases: 16×16 for browser tabs, 32×32 for the classic favicon.ico and Windows taskbar, 48×48 for Windows site icons, 180×180 for Apple Touch Icon (iOS home screen), and 192×192 and 512×512 for Progressive Web App (PWA) icons on Android. This tool generates all six sizes in one go.
favicon.ico is the legacy format — a Windows ICO container that can hold multiple resolutions (16×16, 32×32, 48×48) in one file. It is supported by every browser including very old ones. PNG favicons are the modern approach — one file per size, declared via <link> tags in your HTML. Most modern browsers prefer PNG over ICO. Best practice in 2026: provide both a favicon.ico in your web root (for universal compatibility) and PNG files declared in your HTML (for modern browsers).
The Apple Touch Icon is a 180×180px PNG image used when an iPhone or iPad user taps "Add to Home Screen." It becomes the icon on their home screen, visually identical to a native app icon. Without it, iOS takes a low-resolution screenshot of your page and uses that instead — which typically looks blurry and unprofessional. Declare it with <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png"> in your HTML <head>.
For maximum compatibility, yes. Place favicon.ico in your web root for legacy browsers and bots that request it automatically. Also declare PNG favicons in your HTML for modern browsers that prefer them. This tool's HTML snippet provides both — the <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico"> tag is the legacy fallback, and the PNG <link> tags are picked up by modern browsers first.
PWA (Progressive Web App) icons are 192×192 and 512×512 PNG images referenced in your site.webmanifest file. They are used when Android users "Add to Home Screen" or install your web app — the 192×192 size is the home screen icon and the 512×512 is used for splash screens. If your site is a PWA or you want Android users to be able to install it, you need these. If your site is a standard website without PWA functionality, they are optional but still harmless to include.
1. Generate your favicon files using this tool and download them. 2. Upload all files to the root directory of your web server (e.g. public/ or www/). 3. Copy the HTML snippet from this tool and paste it inside the <head> section of your HTML template (or your CMS theme's header file). 4. Clear your browser cache and reload your site — the favicon should appear in the tab. Most CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow) also have dedicated favicon upload fields in their settings.
Browsers aggressively cache favicons. To force a refresh: open a new incognito/private window (caches are separate), hard-reload the page (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac), or clear your browser cache completely. On Chrome, you can also open DevTools, go to the Application tab, and clear storage. CDN caches can also delay favicon updates — if you're on Cloudflare, purge the cache for /favicon.ico specifically.
Yes, in Chrome, Firefox and Edge (as of 2026). Declare it with <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg">. SVG favicons scale perfectly to any size and support dark mode via CSS media queries inside the SVG. However, Safari does not yet support SVG favicons — so you still need PNG and ICO fallbacks. This tool generates PNG files; for SVG output, export your logo from a vector editor (Figma, Illustrator, Inkscape) and add the SVG link tag alongside the PNG tags from this tool's snippet.
100% free, forever. No account, no subscription, no hidden limits. All rendering and downloading happens locally in your browser using the HTML5 Canvas API — your images are never uploaded to any server. RECATOOLS is funded by contextual advertising, not paywalls. There is no watermark on any generated favicon.