Favicon File Formats Explained - ICO vs PNG vs SVG (2025)
ICO vs PNG vs SVG favicons: which format should you use? Learn the pros, cons, and browser support for each favicon file format in 2025.
Should you use ICO, PNG, or SVG for your favicon? The short answer: use all three. Each format has strengths and weaknesses, and modern browsers support all of them. The trick is knowing when to use each one.
This guide breaks down the 3 main favicon formats (ICO, PNG, SVG), explains what each one is good for, and shows you which formats our Image Converter generates automatically.
ICO format - The legacy standard
ICO is the original favicon format from the late 1990s. It's a container file that can hold multiple bitmap images (16×16, 32×32, 48×48) in a single .ico file. When a browser requests favicon.ico, it gets all the sizes at once and picks the one it needs.
Every browser supports ICO—even Internet Explorer 6. That's why favicon.ico is still the ultimate fallback. If all your <link> tags fail, browsers will automatically look for /favicon.ico in your site's root directory. It's like a safety net.
Downsides: ICO files are larger than individual PNGs because they bundle multiple sizes. They're also harder to create—most design tools don't export ICO natively. Our Image Converter generates favicon.ico automatically, so you don't need to worry about this.
PNG format - The modern workhorse
PNG is the most popular favicon format today. It supports transparency (so your icon works on light and dark backgrounds), compresses well, and every design tool can export it. Most modern browsers prefer PNG favicons linked via <link rel="icon"> tags.
PNG is required for platform-specific icons: Apple Touch Icons (180×180 PNG), Android manifest icons (192×192 and 512×512 PNG), and Windows tiles. If you're only going to use one format, PNG is the safest choice.
Downsides: PNG is a raster format, so each size needs its own file. If you need 7 sizes, you'll have 7 separate PNG files. This isn't a big deal (our Image Converter generates all of them), but it's more files to manage than a single SVG.
SVG format - The future (with caveats)
SVG favicons are vector graphics that scale perfectly to any size. One SVG file can replace all your PNG sizes—it'll look sharp at 16×16 and 512×512. SVG files are also tiny (often under 1 KB), so they load fast and save bandwidth.
Browser support is good on desktop (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari all support SVG favicons), but mobile support is incomplete. iOS Safari doesn't support SVG favicons at all—it only uses Apple Touch Icons (PNG). Android Chrome supports SVG, but older Android browsers don't.
Downsides: Limited mobile support means you can't rely on SVG alone. You'll still need PNG fallbacks for iOS and older browsers. Also, complex SVG files with gradients or filters might not render well at tiny sizes (16×16).
What about WebP, AVIF, or JPEG?
WebP and AVIF are newer image formats with better compression than PNG. Some browsers support them for favicons, but support is inconsistent. Chrome supports WebP favicons, but Safari and Firefox don't. AVIF support is even more limited.
JPEG doesn't support transparency, so it's a bad choice for favicons (your icon will have a white or colored background). Don't use JPEG for favicons unless you have a very specific reason.
Recommendation: Stick with ICO, PNG, and SVG. These three formats cover 100% of browsers and platforms. Don't waste time testing WebP or AVIF favicons unless you're optimizing for extreme performance and willing to maintain fallbacks.
Which format should you use?
Use all three: PNG for maximum compatibility, SVG for desktop browsers (if your logo is vector), and ICO as a fallback. Our Image Converter generates all three formats automatically—upload your logo and download the complete package.
Start with a high-quality source file (1024×1024 PNG or SVG). Upload it to our Image Converter, and we'll generate favicon.ico (with 16×16, 32×32, 48×48 bundled), 7 PNG sizes (16×16 to 512×512), and an optimized SVG (if your source is vector).
Don't overthink it. The favicon package from our tool includes all the formats you need. Just download the ZIP, upload the files to your server, and copy the HTML code. It works everywhere.
Ready to generate your favicons?
Now that you understand the differences between ICO, PNG, and SVG, use our Image Converter to generate all three formats automatically. Upload your logo and get a complete favicon package in seconds.