How to create a favicon for your web site

If you like to create a tiny favicon for your web site (the little icon displayed left of the URL in your browser) there is not much you need to know:

  • apt-get install netpbm

  • Create a bitmap of 16×16 pixels (Gimp is recommended)
  • Save the bitmap as .ppm format (select "raw mode")
  • Convert the file using ppmtowinicon favicon.ppm > favicon.ico

4 thoughts on “How to create a favicon for your web site”

  1. If you use Gimp to make your favicon, you can save from Gimp as .ico (look in the file types for “Microsoft Windows icon”).

  2. Maybe also try icotool from the icoutils package.
    Converts to and png, support for multiple image icons.

  3. Note that a favicon doesn’t have to be in ICO format. So better use PNG and link it with the link element in the head of your HTML document. Only very old browsers would have a problem with favicons not being ICO. But PNG is much easier to create and a open standard (instead of the proprietary ICO).

    1. Christoph Haas

      You are right. The article is three years old and perhaps I should just remove it.

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