---
title: How Big Should a Favicon File Be?
description: Favicons are tiny: a favicon.ico is usually a few kilobytes and PNG sizes well under 100KB. What drives the size, and why an oversized favicon is a red flag.
canonical: https://favicontools.com/glossary/favicon-file-size
---

# How Big Should a Favicon File Be?

Favicons are small files. A multi-size favicon.ico is typically 5–15KB, an individual PNG size is a few kilobytes up to a few tens of kilobytes, and even a 512x512 PWA icon is usually well under 100KB. If a favicon is hundreds of kilobytes, something is wrong: normally a full-resolution photo saved at icon dimensions instead of being properly resized.

## Tiny by nature

A favicon has very few pixels, so it compresses to almost nothing. There's no performance reason to fret over its size: it's a few kilobytes, fetched once, and cached hard by the browser after that.

The only time file size is worth a look is when it's surprisingly large, which points at a mistake rather than a design choice.

## Rough sizes to expect

| File | Typical size |
| --- | --- |
| favicon.ico (multi-size) | 5–15KB |
| 32x32 PNG | 1–3KB |
| apple-touch-icon (180) | 5–20KB |
| 512x512 PNG | 20–90KB |

> **Hundreds of KB means a mistake:** An icon that weighs hundreds of kilobytes is almost always an unresized photo dropped into an icon slot. Re-export it at the real pixel dimensions and the size falls into the ranges above.

## Favicon file size FAQ

### How big should a favicon be?

In kilobytes: a favicon.ico is usually 5–15KB, small PNGs a few KB each, and a 512px icon under 100KB. In pixels, it's a set of square sizes from 16 to 512.

### Is my favicon too big?

If any single icon is hundreds of kilobytes, yes: it's likely a full-size image saved at icon dimensions without resizing. Re-export at the correct size.

### Do favicon file sizes affect page speed?

Negligibly. Favicons are small and cached aggressively after the first request, so they aren't a meaningful factor in load time.