MTS to ICO Converter

Turning a Camcorder Frame into an ICO: What This Page Covers

This tool grabs a single frame from an AVCHD camcorder clip and writes it as a Windows ICO icon file. It is a niche conversion with one genuine trap in it, so this page leads with the trap rather than burying it: the largest size presets — including 256P at the top of the list — produce an icon that Windows cannot describe correctly, because a 16:9 video frame is wider than the ICO format is able to declare.

Read the walk-through before you convert. It takes thirty seconds and saves you working out why your icon looks wrong.

How to Convert MTS to ICO

1. Upload Your MTS File: Drag your .MTS clip onto the page or click "Add Files". This page accepts .mts; you can queue several camcorder clips and take an icon from each.
2. Change the Preset Resolution to 128P or Smaller: This is the important step. Presets set the output height, and the width follows your footage's aspect ratio — at the 256P preset a 1080-line 16:9 frame comes out 455 pixels wide, which is wider than an ICO file can record.
3. Set the Timestamp Under Frame Selection: Keep "Specific Frame" and type a real moment into "Time (seconds)". Leaving it at the default of 0 usually captures the camera still focusing.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the .ico. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Why the Biggest Size Preset Is the One That Breaks

An ICO file begins with a directory that describes each image it contains. In Microsoft's own ICONDIRENTRY structure, the image dimensions are stored in two fields declared as BYTE bWidth and BYTE bHeight — a single byte each. A single byte cannot express a number above 255. By modern convention a stored value of 0 is read back as 256, which is how 256×256 icons work at all, but there is simply no way to write a width of 455 into a one-byte field.

That is exactly what the 256P preset asks for. The preset list sets height only, so the width is whatever your footage's aspect ratio produces:

Treat 128P as the practical maximum for landscape footage. Anything above it produces a file whose header cannot honestly describe its own contents. The three largest presets are only usable if your source frame is tall or square, which camcorder footage never is — and note that 1440×1080 anamorphic AVCHD modes do not save you either, since 256P on a 4:3 pixel grid still lands around 341 pixels wide.

If you want a proper square icon rather than a letterboxed sliver of video, do it in three steps instead: extract the frame with MTS to PNG, crop it square with the PNG cropper, then run PNG to ICO. That path gives you control over composition, which matters a lot at 32 or 48 pixels.

The Controls This Page Does Not Have

ICO output exposes a deliberately small option surface, and it is worth knowing what is absent so you are not hunting for it:

So the two decisions you actually make on this page are which preset and which timestamp. Everything else is fixed.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "My icon looks squashed, stretched or is rejected by Windows." You almost certainly used 256P, 192P or 180P. The image is wider than the directory entry can declare. Re-convert at 128P or smaller.
• "The icon is a wide letterbox strip, not a square." That is your video's aspect ratio being preserved. Icons are conventionally square; crop the frame to a square before converting, using the PNG route described above.
• "My icon is blurry, dark or completely black." The timestamp is still at 0 seconds. Camcorders start writing the moment you press record, so the opening frames typically catch the lens hunting for focus or a black lead-in. Enter a timestamp a few seconds in.
• "There are horizontal comb lines across the image." That is interlacing from 1080i source footage, where each frame is woven from two fields captured moments apart. Nothing in this conversion deinterlaces, so choose a low-motion moment — a still subject or a tripod shot — rather than mid-action.
• "The detail is gone at small sizes." A 32-pixel-tall icon has almost no room for detail. Photographic frames rarely read well that small; pick a moment with a large, high-contrast subject filling the frame.
• "My file was rejected on upload." This page accepts .mts. Camcorder clips copied by software are often renamed .m2ts, which is handled by a separate page even though the stream inside is the same.

When This Doesn't Work

An icon made from a video frame is a compromise by nature: you are taking a wide, photographic, often interlaced image and shrinking it to a size designed for simple flat graphics. If the icon matters — an application icon, a website favicon — start from artwork rather than footage, or at minimum crop a square from a still frame and check how it reads at 32 pixels before committing. If what you actually wanted was a good-looking still rather than an icon, MTS to PNG or MTS to JPG will serve you far better, since both keep the full frame and offer real quality and resolution controls.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size should I choose for an ICO from video?

128P or smaller. Presets on this page set the height, and the width follows your footage's aspect ratio, so a 16:9 frame at 256P becomes 455×256 — and an ICO directory entry stores width and height in single bytes, which cannot represent 455. At 128P a 16:9 frame lands around 228×128, which fits.

Why can't an ICO file be wider than 256 pixels?

Because of how the format records dimensions. Microsoft's ICONDIRENTRY structure defines the image size as BYTE bWidth and BYTE bHeight, one byte each, giving a range of 0–255. A stored 0 is interpreted as 256 by convention, which is why 256×256 icons exist, but anything larger has no valid representation in the directory.

Can I set an exact pixel width and height?

Not on this page. ICO output offers the preset list and nothing else — no width field, no height field, no percentage, and no "keep original" option. If you need exact dimensions, extract the frame as PNG first, resize or crop it there, then convert the PNG to ICO.

Why is my icon a wide rectangle instead of a square?

Because the conversion preserves your video's aspect ratio and camcorder footage is 16:9 or 4:3, never square. The tool does not crop or pad to a square. To get a conventional square icon, crop the frame before converting — extract to PNG, crop, then convert to ICO.

Why is my icon black or out of focus?

The "Time (seconds)" field defaults to 0, and second zero of a camcorder clip is frequently the worst frame available: the lens is often still autofocusing and the exposure still settling, and many clips open with a fraction of a second of black. Scrub the clip in a player, find a sharp moment, and type that timestamp in.

Can I control the colour depth or quality of the ICO?

No. Neither a quality setting nor a bit-depth setting is exposed for ICO output, so there is nothing to tune. The only two choices on this page are the size preset and which frame you capture.

Can I make a multi-size icon with 16, 32 and 48 pixel layers?

Not directly from this page — each conversion produces one image at the preset you chose. Windows selects the image closest to the requested size from whatever the file contains, so a single-size icon still works, it just gets scaled by the system when a different size is needed. For a true multi-resolution icon you need a dedicated icon editor.

Will the interlacing lines in my camcorder footage show up in the icon?

They can, though shrinking to icon size hides a lot. AVCHD camcorders commonly record 1080i, so frames captured during motion contain comb artefacts, and there is no deinterlacing step in this conversion. Choosing a low-motion timestamp is the reliable fix; at 32 pixels the downscale will mask most of what remains.

How are my uploaded camcorder files handled?

Your .MTS file is uploaded over an encrypted connection and the frame is extracted on our servers. Uploaded files and their results are deleted automatically after a few hours, are never shared or made public, and there is no sign-up and no watermark.