Windows icon sizes explained (16 to 256 px)

Updated: 2026-10-27 · AnyToolsKit

Windows rarely shows your icon at the size you designed it. It picks an image from the .ico based on where the icon appears and on the display scaling (DPI). Knowing which sizes are used lets you ship a file that looks crisp on every screen.

Sizes Windows uses at 100% scaling

Where	Size
Window title bar, Explorer “Details” / “List” view, notification area	16 px
Taskbar (small), Explorer small icons	24 px
Taskbar (Windows 11), Alt+Tab, Start menu “All apps”	32 px
Explorer “Medium icons”, desktop default	48 px
Explorer “Large icons”	96–128 px (scaled from 256)
Explorer “Extra large icons”	256 px

How DPI scaling changes things

Most laptops run at 125%, 150% or 200% scaling. Windows multiplies the base size: a 16 px title-bar icon becomes 20 px at 125%, 24 px at 150% and 32 px at 200%. If the exact size is missing, Windows scales the nearest larger image down, which can look blurry. That is why sizes such as 20 and 40 px exist.

Base	125%	150%	200%
16	20	24	32
24	30	36	48
32	40	48	64
48	60	72	96

Recommended sizes for your .ico

Minimum: 16, 32, 48, 256.
Recommended: 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 256 — the “Windows app” preset in Make ICO.
Complete: 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256 — for pixel-perfect results at all scaling levels.

Each extra BMP size adds only a few kilobytes (a 48 px 32-bit entry is about 9 KB), so the complete set is still small. The 256 px entry is stored as PNG to keep the file compact.

Hand-tuning the small sizes

Automatic downscaling of a detailed logo to 16 px produces a gray smudge. Professional icon sets use a simplified drawing for 16–32 px. In the Icon Editor you can watch every size live in the preview panel and use the pixel grid and pencil tool to clean up edges.

Using the icon in your app

Visual Studio / WinForms / WPF: Project properties → Application → Icon.
Electron: win.icon in electron-builder or --icon in electron-packager.
PyInstaller: pyinstaller --icon=app.ico main.py.
Tauri: add icons/icon.ico to bundle.icon in the config.

After changing an app icon, Windows may keep showing the old one from its icon cache. See changing icons in Windows for how to refresh it.

FAQ

Is 256×256 enough on its own?

Windows can scale it down, but small sizes will look soft. Include at least 16, 32 and 48 px as well.

Why does my icon look blurry on the taskbar?

Your .ico probably lacks the size used at your display scaling (e.g. 24 or 40 px). Add the complete size set.