Design Guide

How to Make a Favicon

From a logo, photo, image URL, or emoji — and how to keep it readable at 16×16.

What makes a good favicon

A favicon is tiny — often just 16 pixels wide. The best ones use a single bold shape or letter, high contrast, and almost no fine detail. If your full logo has a wordmark, use just the symbol or initial for the favicon.

Method A — From a logo or image

Upload a logo, icon, or even a screenshot. The generator crops, scales, and exports every size plus the .ico and manifest. PNG or SVG source art with a transparent background gives the cleanest result.

Upload an image →

Method B — From an emoji or named icon

No logo yet? Pick an emoji or a named icon and the generator renders it onto a square or circular background of your choice. It's the fastest way to ship a recognizable favicon for a side project, prototype, or internal tool.

Method C — From an image URL

Paste a URL and pull artwork straight from an existing site or asset. Handy when you're rebuilding a brand you already have live somewhere else.

Design for small sizes

Start from 512×512 art and scale down — never up.
Drop fine detail and thin strokes; they vanish at 16px.
Test on light and dark tabs. Need both? See theme-aware favicons.
Review every dimension in our favicon sizes guide.

Pick the right format

ICO

Legacy default still requested at /favicon.ico. Bundles multiple sizes in one file.

PNG

The workhorse for modern browsers, apple-touch-icon, and Android. One file per size.

SVG

Scales crisply and supports theme switching, with PNG fallbacks for older browsers.

Dig deeper: ICO vs PNG and SVG favicons.

Designing campaign or seasonal icons

Want a holiday variant or a product-launch mark? Use the creative canvas to mock and tweak favicons with text, emoji, and icons before handoff.

Open the favicon creator →

Got your favicon? Next, add it to your website with the right link tags.

Frequently asked questions

What size should a favicon be?

Design at 512×512 and export down to 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 180×180, and 192×192 so every browser and device gets a crisp icon.

Can I make a favicon from an emoji?

Yes — pick an emoji or named icon and the generator renders it onto a background and exports every favicon size automatically.

What format should a favicon be?

Ship a multi-resolution .ico for legacy support, PNGs for modern browsers and devices, and optionally an SVG for crisp scaling.

Make your favicon now

Logo, image, URL, or emoji in — a complete, production-ready icon kit out.

Make Your Favicon