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BMP to ICO converter

Convert BMP to ICO in your browser. No upload and no account: the file never leaves your device, so the only size limit is your device’s memory.

I want ICO
90%
Icon sizes
How to make the SVG

Tracing suits logos, icons and flat artwork and scales cleanly. Photos are better kept as pixels inside the SVG.

16
50%
Dither Scatters black dots to suggest gray, instead of a hard cut-off.
Advanced 5
Keep the animation For animated GIF, WebP and APNG sources. Turn off to save just the first frame.
Rotate
Mirror horizontally
Mirror vertically

For an exact width and height, use the Resize Image tool instead.

Bytes of your files sent anywhere: 0 B

Related conversions

Need it the other way round? Convert ICO to BMP

Other ways to convert BMP

Convert other formats to ICO

Read more about the BMP format and the ICO format, or see every image tool and all image conversions.

Should you convert BMP to ICO?

You’re turning an old bitmap icon into a modern multi-size ICO.

Yes, if you need a favicon or a Windows icon. Start from a square BMP of at least 256 pixels, with a transparent background if it has one, so every size inside the ICO comes out crisp.

BMP is an uncompressed grid of pixels; ICO is a small container that holds the same icon at several sizes. Use ICO for a favicon.ico at the root of a website, or an icon for a Windows program or shortcut.

BMP and ICO compared
Property BMP ICO
Compression Uncompressed Lossless
Transparency No Yes
Animation No No
Support Opens almost everywhere Opens almost everywhere
Best for Old software and hardware that only understands raw bitmaps Website favicons and Windows shortcuts
Introduced 1990 1985

How to convert BMP to ICO

  1. 01

    Add your BMP

    Drop your BMP image onto the box, or click to choose it. It is read from your disk and stays there.

  2. 02

    Check the settings

    The output is already set to ICO. Change the quality if you want to; the defaults suit most files.

  3. 03

    Save the ICO

    Press convert and save the ICO. Several files come back together as a ZIP.

What changes when BMP becomes ICO

Nothing is discarded

BMP and ICO both keep every pixel, so the picture survives the move intact. You can convert back and forth as often as you like without it degrading.

One ICO, every size

The ICO holds 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128 and 256 pixel versions, each scaled from your BMP and centered on a transparent square. Browsers and Windows pick the size they need.

Expect a much smaller file

BMP: A 12-megapixel image is about 36 MB. ICO: A full favicon with every size is usually under 100 KB. Shrinking the file is often the main reason to make this conversion.

This page is put together from our notes on each format, choosing only what is true of BMP and ICO, so every pairing states the same facts the same way. How these pages are made.

Why it doesn’t upload

Changing a picture’s format is work your browser already knows how to do. Sending your photos to a server first only adds waiting and risk, so nothing is sent.

How to check for yourself

Worth knowing

  • About the BMP. BMP looks like a safe “raw” choice, but a single photo can run to tens of megabytes and most sites refuse it.
  • About the ICO. Renaming a PNG to favicon.ico works in some browsers and silently fails in others. A real ICO holds several sizes so each place picks the right one.
  • DDS, PSD, EXR, XWD and JPEG 2000 are read by the FFmpeg engine, a one-time 31 MB download.

Questions

Will converting BMP to ICO lose quality?

No. BMP and ICO are both lossless, so every pixel is kept.

Will the ICO be smaller than the BMP?

Expect a much smaller file. BMP: A 12-megapixel image is about 36 MB. ICO: A full favicon with every size is usually under 100 KB. Shrinking the file is often the main reason to make this conversion.

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