Favicon size guide
The short answer: favicon.ico with 16, 32 and 48 px inside, an SVG, a 180 px Apple touch icon, and 192 and 512 px PNGs for Android. Here’s why each exists, and what your design looks like at each size.
Every favicon size, and who asks for it
| File | Size (px) | Used by | Needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
favicon.ico | 16, 32, 48 (in one file) | All browsers, /favicon.ico requests, Windows | Yes |
favicon.svg | Vector (any) | Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari tabs | Yes |
favicon-16x16.png | 16 × 16 | Browser tab, standard screens | Optional |
favicon-32x32.png | 32 × 32 | Retina tabs, Windows taskbar | Optional |
favicon-48x48.png | 48 × 48 | Google search results | Optional |
apple-touch-icon.png | 180 × 180, opaque | iPhone and iPad home screen | Yes |
android-chrome-192x192.png | 192 × 192 | Android home screen, PWA icon | Yes (via manifest) |
android-chrome-512x512.png | 512 × 512 | PWA splash screen, install prompt | Yes (via manifest) |
maskable-icon-512x512.png | 512 × 512, 10% safe zone | Android adaptive icon shapes | Recommended |
mstile-150x150.png | 150 × 150 | Windows Start tiles (legacy) | Optional |
Sources: Google Search Central “Define a favicon to show in search results”, Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for app icons, and the W3C Web App Manifest spec. The favicon generator makes every file in this table.
Why the small sizes are the hard ones
A 16 px favicon has 256 pixels. A thin serif letter is maybe one pixel wide at that size, and anti-aliasing turns it into a grey smear. A whole word gets roughly three pixels per letter. This is why the most recognisable favicons (think of a lone “G”, “f” or a simple shape) are bold and blocky, even when the full logo isn’t.
The trick designers use is to draw the small sizes separately: a simplified mark for 16 and 32 px, the full logo from 180 px up. The generator lets you do that by making one package from a letter, then swapping in your full logo for the Apple and Android icons if you want.
Retina and zoom
On a 2× display, a 16 px tab icon is drawn with 32 real pixels, and at 3× with 48. Browsers pick the best match from your .ico or sizes attributes, which is why the 32 and 48 px images matter even though “favicon size” is still quoted as 16.
If the numbers still feel abstract, the pixel demo above is the fastest way to see it. Seeing beats reading when a concept feels slippery, and ahaboo gives you visual explainers you can manipulate to understand how things work.
Questions people ask
What is the standard favicon size?
The classic favicon is 16×16 pixels, but a modern site should provide 32×32 for retina tabs, 48×48 for Google search results, 180×180 for the Apple touch icon, and 192×192 plus 512×512 for Android and installable web apps. An SVG favicon covers every tab size at once.
What size should favicon.ico be?
Put three images inside one favicon.ico: 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48. That combination covers browser tabs, bookmarks, Windows shortcuts and Google’s 48 px requirement in a file of a few kilobytes.
What size is the Apple touch icon?
180×180 pixels, as a PNG with no transparency. iOS scales it for other devices, so one 180 px file is enough; extra 167, 152 and 120 px versions are optional.
What favicon size does Google use in search results?
Google’s documentation asks for a square icon whose size is a multiple of 48 px (48×48, 96×96, 144×144 and so on). SVG is also accepted. It displays the icon at 16 px on screen but uses the larger source for high-density displays.
Can a favicon be 512x512?
Yes. A 512×512 PNG is the standard large icon for Android and installable web apps, listed in the web manifest. Browsers downscale it for tabs, but a dedicated 16, 32 and 48 px set (or an SVG) looks sharper in tabs than a downscaled 512 px image.
What size should a favicon be in 2026?
Provide favicon.ico (16, 32, 48 px inside), favicon.svg, a 180×180 apple-touch-icon.png, and 192×192 plus 512×512 PNGs in site.webmanifest. Those five files cover every current browser, iOS, Android and Google Search.
Does the favicon need to be square?
Yes. Browsers and Google expect a 1:1 aspect ratio. Non-square images get squashed or padded unpredictably, so crop to a square before converting.
How big can a favicon file be?
There is no hard limit, but keep favicon.ico under about 15 KB and PNGs small; the icon is requested on first visit by every browser. A PNG-compressed ICO with 16, 32 and 48 px is typically 2–6 KB.