How to Create a Favicon

A modern favicon is more than a 16×16 image. Here's the full workflow for a setup that looks crisp on every browser, OS, and device.

6 min read

What is a favicon?

A favicon is the tiny icon a browser shows in the tab, the bookmark bar, and the history list. On mobile it's the home-screen icon. On Windows it's the shortcut icon.

Modern sites ship multiple resolutions and formats so every surface gets a crisp render.

Prepare your source image

Start from a square image that's at least 512×512 — ideally an SVG with a square viewBox. Anything smaller will blur when downscaled.

Avoid thin lines and small text. They disappear at 16×16.

Generate a multi-size .ico

Bundle 16, 32, 48, 64, 128, and 256 inside a single favicon.ico. Browsers pick the right size automatically.

Our favicon generator does this client-side in under a second.

Add the HTML tags

Drop favicon.ico into your site root. Then add the SVG, apple-touch-icon, and manifest icons in <head> for a complete setup.

Verify in every browser

Hard-refresh in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. Check the bookmark bar, tab, and a home-screen install.

Try the tools

Continue reading

Explore FetchFavicon

Categories

Converters

Utilities

Guides

Tutorials