Favicon sizes guide (2026): which files you actually need

Updated: 2026-10-27 · AnyToolsKit

Favicon checklists online often list twenty or more files. In 2026 you need about five. Here is the minimal set that covers every modern browser, Google Search, iOS home screens and installable web apps — plus the exact HTML to reference it.

The minimal favicon set

The Favicon Generator creates exactly this package from one image, together with a site.webmanifest and a copy-paste HTML snippet.

The HTML

<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="48x48">
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon-32x32.png">
<link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/favicon.svg">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png">
<link rel="manifest" href="/site.webmanifest">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff">

Put these lines in the <head> of every page. Browsers choose the best candidate themselves, so the order is not critical, but listing the ICO first keeps older browsers from preferring an icon they cannot render.

Why not 16×16 PNG, 96×96, 144×144…?

Older generators produced dozens of sizes for Windows tiles (msapplication-*), old Android versions and Opera Coast. Those platforms are gone or fall back to the files above. Extra files only add requests and maintenance. The 16 px version is already inside favicon.ico.

Google Search requirements

• The favicon must be a multiple of 48×48 px (48, 96, 144…) — or an SVG. A 48 px entry in your ICO or the 192/512 px PNGs qualify.
• Googlebot-Image must be able to crawl both the icon file and the home page.
• The icon should represent your brand and be visually stable — Google may replace inappropriate icons with a default globe.

It can take days or weeks for Google to show a new favicon. See Favicon not showing? for troubleshooting.

Designing for the tab

At 16 px your logo becomes a few dozen pixels. Use a simplified mark (a letter or symbol), strong contrast and little or no text. Our guide on designing icons for small sizes has concrete techniques, and the Icon Editor lets you check every size at actual size while you work.