ICO is a container format for favicons and Windows icons. Current browsers open ICO, but support in programs and services is uneven.
JPG is the most widely used lossy format for photos. When you convert ICO to JPG, you can open it in more places and a solid background replaces transparency. See the comparison below for what changes.
This converter reads the file itself to confirm it is ICO, then converts it to JPG right in your browser. Your image is never uploaded.
ICO vs JPG: what's the difference?
| Item | ICO | JPG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
| Transparent background | Yes | No |
| Animation | No | No |
| Introduced | 1985 | 1992 |
| Support in programs and upload forms | moderate | nearly everywhere |
| Shown directly in browsers | Yes | Yes |
| Photo file size (JPG = 1) | n/a | baseline (1×) |
What is ICO?
ICO is the format used for Windows icons and website favicons. Its distinguishing feature is that one file can hold several sizes, such as 16×16, 32×32 and 256×256.
What is JPG?
JPG (JPEG) is a lossy format standardized in 1992. It drops information the human eye is less sensitive to, making photos very small. It is the format cameras and smartphones save by default, so it is the one you meet most often.
What changes when you convert ICO to JPG
Transparent areas are filled with the background color you choose
JPG can't represent transparency. Transparent and semi-transparent areas are composited onto the background color in the options (white by default), so pick a matching color first if the image will be used on a dark screen.
Lossy compression is applied
ICO loses no quality, but JPG drops information the eye barely notices to shrink the file. Even next to the ICO original, the default quality of 90 is hard to tell apart, and the slider lets you tune size against quality.
An ICO with several sizes uses just one of them
An ICO can hold multiple sizes such as 16×16, 32×32 and 256×256. The result is one of those images. If you need a large image, use an ICO that contains the biggest size.
You can adjust quality, size and background color
When converting ICO to JPG, you can use the quality slider (default 90), exact width-and-height sizing with margin fill, and percentage resizing. ICO is lossless, so lowering quality to around 80 usually still looks natural. Lower it when size matters, and raise it to 95 or more for archiving.
How the file size changes
ICO files are small icons, so the size difference after any conversion is only a few KB.
JPG opens in more places
Support for ICO in programs, document tools and upload forms is moderate, while JPG is nearly everywhere. If you need to upload somewhere ICO wouldn't open, try again after converting.
When to convert
- You need to upload to a program, messenger or upload form that can't open ICO
- You're submitting to a place that doesn't need transparency (print, certificates, a product's main image) with a white background
- You want to pull a favicon or icon file out as an ordinary image for editing or documents