Geek Answers Handbook

How does Windows determine which icon format is displayed when the exe icon is displayed in Windows Explorer?

How does Windows determine the icon format displayed when the exe icon is displayed in Windows Explorer?

Problem. When we look at our icon file and exe with an embedded icon file in various types of Windows Explorer files, the icon file is displayed in a better quality mode than the icon displayed for our executable file, even if the icon in our executable file contains exactly the same icon. Our exe icon has tougher edges, which makes me think that Windows Explorer might try to zoom in on a lower resolution, rather than picking an icon that matches the actual screen size.

Is there a specific order in the multi-format icon file that we must use to position each icon format?

For example, we have an icon file with icons in the following formats: - 16x16 - 32x32 - 48x48 - 64x64 - 128x128 - 256x256

We test the appearance of our exe icon using Windows Explorer on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Any suggestions appreciated.

+6
exe icons windows-explorer
source share
3 answers

One troubleshooting method that I will try is to remove all different size formats from the icon file, except for one, say, 32x32. Then compare the display of the .ico file and the .exe file. If they look different, you will find out that this is not a problem with exe choosing the wrong format. If they look the same, you can start adding the formats back to your .ico file one at a time until the problem appears.

When I create icon files, I always have formats added in order of the smallest, smallest, highest quality to the lowest quality:

256x256 32-bit
96x96 32-bit
48x48 32-bit
32x32 32-bit
16x16 32-bit
48x48 8-bit
32x32 8-bit
16x16 8-bit

+2
source share

Use iConvert , it's free and online. You download a large 512x512 PNG, it gives you an ICO that works as it should, with several embedded images of different sizes. It also provides you ICNS and HQX files for Mac.

Works fine under Win7 / Vista / XP for my applications. This takes away the pain of manually creating the appropriate ICO files. As you discovered, it's easy to ruin something.

+3
source share

Check out IcoFx , which can give you smoother icons when creating them, alpha transparency is also supported there ...

0
source share

More articles:


All Articles