ICO to PNG: What Four Converters Actually Export
To convert an ICO to PNG, upload the `.ico` file to an ICO-to-PNG converter, run the conversion, and download the PNG.
If you need more than one image size, check whether the output includes only the largest embedded image or every image. In our test, ToolsForImage, PixelTools, and ToolTea returned one largest-size PNG; PNGConvert returned a separate PNG for each embedded size.
The five-file test
The five test ICOs contained five distinct size sets: 16, 32, 48, 64, 128, 256; 256; 16; 16, 32, 48, 64; and 16, 32, 256. I uploaded one ICO at a time to each of four converters. All 20 single-file runs produced downloads; decoding those downloads yielded 30 PNG files.
| ICO input | ToolsForImage | PixelTools | ToolTea | PNGConvert |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16, 32, 48, 64, 128, 256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 6 PNGs · 16, 32, 48, 64, 128, 256 |
| 256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 |
| 16 | 1 PNG · 16×16 | 1 PNG · 16×16 | 1 PNG · 16×16 | 1 PNG · 16×16 |
| 16, 32, 48, 64 | 1 PNG · 64×64 | 1 PNG · 64×64 | 1 PNG · 64×64 | 4 PNGs · 16, 32, 48, 64 |
| 16, 32, 256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 1 PNG · 256×256 | 3 PNGs · 16, 32, 256 |
What the downloaded PNGs showed
ToolsForImage, PixelTools, and ToolTea each returned one PNG for every input, at that ICO's largest embedded size. Their output sizes followed the input: 256×256 from the six-size set, 256×256 from the 256-only set, 16×16 from the 16-only set, 64×64 from the 16/32/48/64 set, and 256×256 from the 16/32/256 set.
PNGConvert returned every embedded size: six PNGs from the six-size ICO, one from each single-size ICO, four from the 16/32/48/64 ICO, and three from the 16/32/256 ICO. The 16×16-only sample produced a 16×16 PNG at all four converters; the three largest-size outputs stayed at that size, and PNGConvert had only that one embedded image to export.
Every one of the 30 downloaded PNGs had an alpha channel and at least one pixel with alpha below 255. On the fully transparent 256×256 sample, each converter's output had exactly 65,536 pixels with alpha equal to zero.
Convertio is a separate uncompleted attempt. Its cookie-consent dialog blocked the conversion before a file was downloaded, so there are no Convertio dimensions or transparency results to compare. It is not included in the four-converter, 20-run matrix.