A favicon seems like a minor detail until you're missing one and see your site's tab showing the browser's generic icon among ten other tabs with real icons. And creating a "correct" favicon today isn't just generating a single .ico file: there are multiple sizes, formats for different devices, and specific icons for when someone saves your site as an app on their phone.
Why a favicon needs so many different sizes
The same icon gets displayed in very different contexts: a tiny browser tab, the bookmarks bar, an installed app's icon on a phone's home screen, or an operating system's task view. Each context needs a different resolution to look sharp: an icon meant only for 16px looks pixelated when shown as a 512px app icon, and generating a single size and "stretching" it gives mediocre results compared to generating each size specifically.
The formats a complete favicon needs
- 8 PNG/ICO sizes (typically from 16px to 512px), covering everything from the browser tab to high-resolution icons.
- Apple Touch Icon: the specific icon iOS uses when someone adds your site to their iPhone or iPad's home screen.
- PWA (Progressive Web App) icons: the specific sizes a site needs to behave like an installable app, with its own icon in the system's launcher.
How to create your favicon
- Upload an image, or type text or an emoji if you'd rather generate the icon directly without starting from a file.
- The tool automatically generates the 8 needed sizes, the Apple Touch Icon and the PWA icons.
- Download all the generated files.
- Copy the ready-made HTML snippet with the correct
<link>tags for each size and context.
You can do it free with the favicon generator on this site, no sign-up.
Why generating a favicon from text or emoji is so practical
You don't always have an already-designed logo or icon, especially on small or personal projects. Being able to generate a favicon directly from an emoji or a short piece of text/letter (for example, a project's initial) solves the need without depending on already having a graphic asset ready, useful especially in a project's early phase where the final branding doesn't exist yet.
Why the HTML snippet matters as much as the files
Generating the correct icon files is only half the work: the browser and the different systems need the HTML to explicitly declare which file to use in each context, with the <link rel="icon">, <link rel="apple-touch-icon"> tags and the ones corresponding to PWA. Without the correct snippet, some of the generated files simply never get used, even if they're uploaded to the server.
Difference from the image converter
If you just need to convert a one-off image to ICO format without the full workflow (multiple sizes, Apple Touch Icon, PWA, HTML snippet), the general image converter also supports ICO as an output format. This favicon generator is specifically built for the complete website icon workflow, with all the sizes and variants that specific use case needs.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to upload all the generated files? Yes, each size and variant serves a different purpose depending on the context (browser, iOS, PWA); skipping one makes that specific context show a generic or incorrect icon.
Can I generate the favicon without having an image? Yes, you can generate it directly from text or an emoji.
Where do I place the generated HTML snippet? Inside your HTML document's <head>, alongside the rest of the page's metadata.
Is my image uploaded to any server? No, the entire process happens in your browser.
Create your complete favicon for free with the favicon generator, with 8 sizes, Apple Touch Icon, PWA and a ready HTML snippet, no sign-up.