Crop ICO

How to Crop an ICO File Online

1. Choose Your ICO Files: Drag and drop ICO images onto the page or click "Choose ICO files" — up to 50 at once. The first photo opens in the editor and the rest line up as thumbnails below it; with two or more photos open, "Add more" adds files to the same batch.
2. Set the Crop: In Crop, pick an "Aspect ratio" ("Free", "Original", 1:1, 4:3, 16:9 and more) or a platform size, then drag the box on the photo or type its width and height under "Crop area". "Shape" switches between "Rectangle" and "Circle (avatar)". The crop applies to every photo in the batch.
3. Pick the Output Format (Optional): "Save as" keeps "Same as original" or saves as JPG, PNG, WebP or another format. For JPG, WebP and AVIF output, the "Quality" slider (40–100) trades file size against detail. Resize, Crop, Rotate and Flip all work in the same session, and "Undo" steps back.
4. Download: Click the Download button, which names the output format (for example "Download PNG"), for one photo, or "Download all (.zip)" for a batch — "Download one by one" saves the files separately. The editor opens ICO files right in your browser whenever your browser can decode them, so those files are not uploaded. A file it can't decode is either processed on our servers and deleted automatically afterward — the editor says so before you download — or skipped with a note. No sign-up, no watermark.

Why Crop an ICO File?

ICO is the Windows icon container Microsoft introduced for Win32 applications, the Windows shell, and (via the favicon convention) websites. A single .ico file can hold several images at different pixel sizes and color depths so the OS or browser can pick the cleanest version for the slot it has — Microsoft's design guidance lists 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, and 256x256 as the standard application-icon set, with 24x24, 64x64, 96x96, and 128x128 as common extras for high-dpi and special cases. Cropping in advance matters because every pixel counts at 16x16 — bad framing in the source image becomes a blurry blob when the OS scales it down.

• Tighten a padded source image — most logos exported from Figma, Illustrator, or Photoshop ship with bleed or guideline padding. Cropping that padding before generating the .ico gives you more pixels of glyph and fewer pixels of empty margin at 16x16.
• Force a 1:1 square for a favicon — favicons are always rendered square; non-square sources get squished or stretched by the browser. A clean square crop is the single biggest quality win for /favicon.ico.
• Re-frame an existing icon — pulling the center mark off-axis, dropping a corner annotation, or extracting one element from a multi-glyph icon is a one-step crop instead of a redraw.
• Trim taskbar and Start menu app icons — Windows app icons ship as multi-resolution .ico files and the smallest sizes need extra negative space trimmed so the glyph reads at 16x16 in the taskbar.
• Prep for high-dpi scaling — Microsoft's dpi guidance shows 32x32 scaling up to 64x64 at 192 dpi (200%); a cropped, well-framed source survives that scale better than a padded one.

ICO vs PNG vs SVG for Icons

Most production sites ship all three: an ICO at the root (/favicon.ico) for legacy and Windows pinning, PNGs for Apple and Android, and an SVG mask icon for Safari pinned tabs. Crop the source square first, then export to each.

ICO Bundle Size Cheat Sheet

If you're building for the favicon use case only, a 16x16 + 32x32 + 48x48 bundle covers every browser; for a Windows desktop app, add 256x256 plus the standard 24x24 and 64x64 layers (an ICO saved here holds 16, 32 and 48 plus the size you choose, up to 256).

Frequently Asked Questions

Will cropping break the multi-resolution layers inside my ICO?

When the source ICO contains multiple sizes (16x16, 32x32, 48x48, 256x256, etc.), the editor opens the largest one and crops that image; a note at open lists the sizes it found. Saving as ICO then writes a fresh, valid multi-size .ico: the size you end up with (at most 256x256) plus each smaller standard size (16, 32, 48) scaled from your crop, and the output note names them. To choose the icon size, use the Resize tab's "Icon sizes" presets or resize-ico.

Should I crop my favicon to a perfect square?

Yes. Browsers render favicons inside a square slot, so a non-square source gets stretched or letterboxed depending on the user agent. Pick the 1:1 chip under "Aspect ratio", or type equal width and height under "Crop area" (32x32, 64x64, or 256x256 are common starting points). If you save a non-square crop as ICO, the editor centres it in a square with transparent padding.

What's the smallest icon size where cropping still helps?

At 16x16 the readable area is roughly an 8x8 to 12x12 inner region after antialiasing, so trimming even 2-3 pixels of source padding makes the glyph noticeably larger in the tab. Microsoft's design guidance specifically calls out exaggerating defining details at 16x16 — a tight crop is the easiest way to get there without redrawing.

Does cropping reduce ICO quality?

A pure crop (cutting away pixels outside the selection) keeps the remaining pixels as they are, and each size inside the saved ICO is stored as a lossless PNG. Quality only changes when the icon is scaled: an ICO is at most 256x256, so a larger crop is brought down to 256, and the 16, 32 and 48 sizes are scaled from it.

Can I crop an ICO into a non-square aspect ratio?

The .ico format itself doesn't require square frames — Microsoft has shipped non-square overlays and toolbar strips — but every consumer of the file (Windows Explorer, browsers, the desktop) expects a square. A 32x16 ICO is technically valid but will be stretched in every place it's used. Stick with square crops unless you have a very specific Windows API target in mind; saved as ICO here, a non-square crop is padded to a square with transparent edges.

Does the cropped ICO still work as a favicon?

Yes, as long as the output is square and at least 16x16. Save the cropped file as favicon.ico in your site root and add <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico"> to your <head> — every modern browser plus legacy IE will pick it up. For sharper rendering on high-dpi screens, also export a 192x192 PNG via convert-ico-to-png and reference it with rel="icon" sizes="192x192" type="image/png".

Can I crop multiple icons in one batch?

Yes — drop up to 50 ICO files at once (a mixed batch works too). The crop region (or aspect-ratio preset) you set applies to every file in the batch; "Download all (.zip)" saves every cropped result in one ZIP, or use "Download one by one" to save them separately.

My source is a PNG or JPG — can I still use this tool?

Yes. This page opens PNG, JPG and the other supported image formats too, and here "Save as" starts at ICO for every file, so you can crop a PNG or JPG and download it as an icon in one pass. If you don't need to crop, convert-png-to-ico, convert-jpg-to-ico, or convert-svg-to-ico convert directly (SVG files don't open in this editor). If you'd rather just compress an existing .ico without changing its frame, see compress-ico.

What bit depth does the cropped ICO keep?

Every size in an ICO saved here is a 32-bit PNG-compressed entry (24-bit color + 8-bit alpha), whatever the source frame used — Microsoft's spec also covers 1-bit, 4-bit and 8-bit (palette) frames, which this editor does not write. A modern transparent favicon is almost always 32-bit, and the crop keeps that alpha channel intact so the cropped icon still has clean edges over any background.