About Icon Sizes, Color Depths and Formats
It's rare you need icons in all sizes and color depths. This is a quick and simple introduction to icon formats.
| 512 x 512 | 256 x 256 | 128 x 128 | 64 x 64 | 48 x 48 | 32 x 32 | 24 x 24 | 16 x 16 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truecolor | Mac*** | Win*/Mac** | Mac | Win | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win | Win/Mac |
| 256 colors | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win | Win/Mac | ||||
| 16 colors | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win | Win/Mac |
* Windows Vista / ** Mac OSX 10.4 / *** Mac OSX 10.5
Sizes
The required icon sizes depend on where the icons will be displayed by the software and the operating system. We recommend to provide the application icon in the sizes 16 x 16, 32 x 32, 48 x 48, Mac 128 x 128, and (only for Windows Vista and Mac OSX 10.4) 256 x 256 as well. You can see the icon sizes in the example below. The recommended toolbar icon sizes are 16 x 16 or 24 x 24. If the software allows to switch between small and large icons, you should provide both sizes.
Icon for our client ProSaldo GmbH, sizes 16 x 16, 32 x 32, 48 x 48, 128 x 128 and 256 x 256
Color Depths
The required color depth depends on which operating system the icons will be displayed as well as on the screen settings. Truecolor icons (24/32 bit) only work on Windows XP and up. Older versions require 8 bit icons (256 colors). If you want to make sure your icons look fine on every system, they should contain both color depths. 4 bit icons (16 colors) are extremely rare.
Color depth example: the Windows notepad icon in 16 colors, 256 colors and truecolor
Icon Formats
The required format depends on the application. You need .ico icons for Windows applications, .icns icons for Mac OS applications and .png icons for linux applications. Icons for web applications are provided in .gif or .jpg format. Favicons are provided in .ico format.
