Paint can create ico files
Oct 16th, 2007 by Jason
I’m a big fan of MS Paint for its simplicity. And Paint is available in all Windows after all. But I didn’t realize that Paint can create ico files too.
Whenever I tried to save a file in paint, I drop down file types available and I’ve never seen .ico, so I thought I can’t save it. But you know, if you give file name with .ico, Paint create icon files for you.
You can use those icon files for your folders or even for favico. It’s cool!!
I hate to disappoint you, but this is not true. It is still saved in the selected format and not as an .ico despite having that extension.
It also works with 256 bitmap & it is a much sharper image!
rubbish claims. nothing works as you have said
It works, you’re just incompetent.
It works. I just tried it. I have Vista if that helps. It might differ depending on your os.
OHHH Yeah Happy happy it works
well, as far as I have tested, I can use those ico files as folder icon. That’s what I mean in my article
TO SAVE A PICTURE AS AN ICO FILE IN PAINT, YOU NEED TO USE QUOTATION MARKS AROUND THE FILE NAME:
ie. “Test.ico”
SAVING THE FILE AS Test.ico WITHOUT THE QUOTES WILL SAVE THE FILE AS A BITMAP.
what ever you probally have mac
Funny story macs don’t have MS paint… because MS stands for microsoft. You probally (or as the rest of civilization spells it, probably) still suck your thumb.
it worked…thanks…
I have a question about ico files. I know that they work, but how do you make the back ground so a certain color is see through? I am trying to play a prank on someone in my family and recreating a virus that just shuts down the computer and I am using the internet explorer 7 icon to imitate it. How do I recreate it. I have made the symbol the rights size and all but there is a white box around it.
u dont need to recreate the “big E” (its just a waste of time)
all u do is right-click on the “e” then “properties”
then go to the tab on the top that says “shortcut”
then press the box saying “change icon…”
then u see a text box with writing like this
eg. “%ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
then create the so called “virus” as a shortcut on PC
then delete the real “E”
then repeat the step above
but then change the text to %ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe in the “change icon…” of your shortcuted virus
hopefully you got all of that
p.s dont get to carryed away with viruses
Just find the internet explorer icon in the default icon path.
sorry bob,
I don’t encourage viruses in anyway even for a prank
I do as long as the virus doesn’t do more than that…
What you need is transparency. If I’m not mistaken transparency cannot be achieved with paint. You need another program that supports that. (Paint.net, GIMP, Photoshop if you got the money)
Yes!! It works like a charm and very simple too.
THANK YOU!
Just wanted to say thanks. worked like a charm.
this does work i have tried and this help me instead of downloading any of things to do this thank u!!!!
Yeah thnx!!
That’s handy for my autoplay usb stick
Awesome. Worked perfectly. Thanks.
or rename the .bmp to .ico, but make sure that u rename the extension, not just add .ico to the name, in windows xp go to Control Panel>Folder Options > under view tab > un check ‘Hide Extensions for konwn file typs’ to be able to change the file typs.
ricky
Doesnt work for VB6 icon. Im kinda disappointed.
Does it really not work for VB 6 or 9 icons? That’s a bummer bcos thats all i was interested in it for. I’ll try it to confirm this for myself later bcos it doesn’t make sense that it doesn’t work. It should as long as the file extension is ‘ico’. Why would VB discriminate if the filename is correct?
It seems to work as long as you set the top left pixel to black, otherwise the entire background turns black…
It worked but the only problem I’m facing is that white becomes black once I save the icon and I can’t figure out how to fix it
Wow, this Trick does work, and all these dayz i was looking for some utility program to do it for me, this is preity much easier
it can produce icon files but vb cannot accept that property!. it seems like creating icon files in MS Paint is not efficient, because probably MS paint produce only a bitmap image file.
it works fine. thanks man.
Thanks! Very cool
hehe try this open notepad typ th following:
:1
start
Goto:1
and then save it as what you wanna name it(add .bat)
you built a batch file but don’t open it
send it to afriend to creep them out
ITS WORKING BUT THE BACKGROUND IS BLACK!!!
haha u geeks
this is u on computer everybody
—->
convertico.com
you can convert by uploading on their site and it converts for you, and you just download your file.
works with VB
thanks a lot.This is working fine.
very nice………
Why is everyone saying it doesnt work? Its easily tested and DOES work
You are right it works!!!
I had trouble with changing my favorites icons and here is how it worked for me.
i found the picture i wanted to use on google images, i filtered the search so it only returned images 16×16 in size. i right clicked the image and saved it to the desktop.
then right click the file and open it with paint.
then my background colour turned a weird color so i changed the background colour back to white using the “fill” button in the toolbox.
then i used the pencil to change just the very top left pixel to black.
then when i saved it i changed the extension to .ico and in the drop down menu changed it to 16 color bitmap.
then i opened internet explorer and right clicked on the favorite icon i wanted to change, when to properties, change icon, browse, desktop and then the saved paint file then open then apply and it worked like magic for me.
hope this helps someone else out there!
Its does work (at least on XP), i’ve used it to create favicon.ico for my websites and did really work, thanks for the tip. For those that want transparency, if my memory doesnt fail me, you can also use .gif (if you want animated icons) or .png (for transparency) for icons on win although as far as I know (im a newbie) you cant create either of ‘em on paint.
yes it work
this works but u shud change the attributes to 32×32 px to create a proper .ico file
yep definitely works. select 24 bitmap and put .ico on the end of your file name and you have a usable .ico file
It works !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks I almost bought something for 49.95 to do this!
It does not work, let me explain:
Yes, its saves with extension ICO.
Yes, windows shows the icon in explorer.
Yes, you can use them to assign to shortcuts.
But they are not ICO files. They are simply BMP files. Windows happens to be able to read BMP’s as icons if they are given the ICO extension. They are not actually ICO’s. They will not work where an ICO file is required – they only work in a few situations built into windows.
You can prove this yourself easily, drag the ico file to an open notepad window. If the first two bytes are “BM” then its a bitmap. Real ICO files have the first two bytes has NULL characters.
Hope this clears up the confusion. The method mentioned here can create icons, but not ICO files.
This is very fine………….
It works all the time!
Works using Photoshop also.
Save as
File name: XXXX.ico
Format: Bitmap
BMP Options
File format: Windows
Depth: I used 24 bit
it works !
Sorry to say to all, but I found it work propely…
Nice article Jason…
Keep up good work..
Yes this works, thanks.
Great Tip
Easiest method yet – love it.
Thanks
wow it works…
I saved it in 16 color bitmap and saved the file like “filename.ico”
Cheers
Works an absolute treat mate.
Just copied and pasted the facebook logo from google images into paint, saved as “facebook.ico” in 24 bmp as specified and then changed the page shortcut icon on my desktop.
Bingo!
Took less time than writing this!!
Are the people slagging this off the ones who release ‘free’ malware infested icon creator programs? LMAO!
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It works just fine on XP as well; I just tested it with a pic my gf sent me and there’s no problem. I tries both 24-Bit and 256 color bitmap; 24-bit has much higher quality. I didn’t even need to put quotes around the file name.
Does not work with visual studio. If saved exactly as you say, it appears as an icon in everything, but when you try to add it as the icon to a Windows form, it says “Picture must be of a type that can be used as an icon”
hahahaha are you kidding me? 24bit is much better resolution than 256.
you MAY create an icon file with MS paint, but it isnt an icon file. Why? an icon file retain certain data that makes it unique. thus saving a pic with the extension .ico at the end just will make it seem is an icon.
I recommend use http://www.converticon.com
Best tip ever!! It works!