MOS to ICO Converter

MOS to ICO Converter

A .mos file is a Leaf Camera RAW photo — a large, high-bit-depth still captured by a medium-format digital back. .ico is the Windows icon container, designed to hold tiny app and favicon images. This converter demosaics the raw, renders it to standard 8-bit color, and downscales it into a single icon image. Be clear about the trade-off: a 22-80 megapixel raw shrinks to 256×256 pixels or smaller, so this is for turning a photo into an app icon or favicon, not for viewing the picture. If you want a normal viewable image, convert to JPG or PNG instead.

MOS (Leaf Camera RAW) at a Glance

ICO (Windows Icon) at a Glance

How to Convert MOS to ICO

1. Upload Your MOS File: Drag and drop your .mos file or click "Add Files." You can queue several raws and convert them in one batch.
2. Pick an Icon Size: Open Advanced Options and set Image Resolution. For ICO the preset list shows icon sizes — 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128, 192, and 256 pixels. 256 is the largest the format allows.
3. Check the Shape Before Converting (Optional): ICO output has no bit-depth, colour-palette or quality control — the size preset is the whole option set, and the percentage, "Keep original" and custom width/height modes are hidden too. That preset sets the icon's height and the width follows the frame's aspect ratio, with nothing cropped or padded, so a 4:3 Leaf back at 256P comes out 341×256 — wider than the 256 an ICO directory entry can declare. Crop the raw square first, or pick 128P.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save your .ico. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Leaf raw lose so much detail when I convert it to ICO?

Because ICO caps each image at 256×256 pixels, and your .mos may be 22-80 megapixels at 16-bit depth. The conversion bakes the raw's wide tonal latitude down to standard 8-bit color and shrinks it to icon dimensions. That resolution loss is unavoidable — ICO exists to label apps and tabs, not to preserve photographic detail.

What is a .mos file and what camera makes it?

It is the Leaf Camera RAW format, developed by Leaf Imaging (now part of Phase One). The files come from Leaf Aptus series and Mamiya medium-format digital backs. There are two variants: a fully uncompressed one and a TIFF-based one that uses lossless JPEG compression for the image data.

Can one ICO file hold several icon sizes at once?

The ICO format itself is built to store multiple images in a single file via its icon directory, which is how Windows picks the right size for the taskbar versus the desktop. This converter writes the size you choose in the resolution preset; if you need several sizes bundled together, generate each one and combine them in an icon editor.

Should I use ICO for a website favicon or a Windows app icon?

Both are valid ICO use cases. For a classic favicon, 16×16, 32×32, and 48×48 cover most browsers. For a Windows application icon, include larger sizes up to 256×256 so the icon stays sharp on the desktop and in File Explorer at high DPI.

Will the conversion keep my photo's color accuracy?

Not at raw fidelity. A .mos stores 16-bit-per-channel sensor data with a wide dynamic range; ICO output is rendered to standard 8-bit-per-channel colour. The result is a faithful-looking thumbnail, but it is not a color-managed photo. For editing or printing the original image, keep the raw or export to TIFF instead.

Does an ICO keep a transparent background around my icon?

The ICO format supports 32-bit color with an 8-bit alpha channel, so an icon can sit on a transparent background. A .mos photo, though, is a fully opaque rectangular image — there is no transparency in the source to carry over — so the icon will be a solid thumbnail unless you first cut out the subject in an image editor and supply that masked image.

Do I still need an ICO favicon, or can I just use a PNG?

Modern browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari — accept PNG and SVG favicons declared with a <link rel="icon"> tag, so ICO is no longer the only way to give a website an icon.

That said, browsers still request /favicon.ico from the site root by default, and Windows shortcuts and older browsers rely on the ICO format, so a small multi-size .ico remains the safest universal fallback. Many sites ship both: an ICO at the root plus larger PNGs referenced in the page's HTML.

Is my MOS file kept private during conversion?

Yes. Your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public. If you only need a viewable photo rather than an icon, convert MOS to PNG keeps full resolution and transparency.