How to add a favicon in WordPress
WordPress calls the favicon a “Site Icon”. Upload one 512×512 px square image and WordPress generates the tab icon, Apple touch icon and Android icon for you.
Steps
- Make your icon with the generator above and unzip the package.
- Classic themes: go to Appearance → Customize → Site Identity → Site Icon. Block themes: open Appearance → Editor, select the Site Logo block and use its “Use as site icon” option, or go to Settings → General → Site Icon on recent WordPress versions.
- Upload android-chrome-512x512.png and click Publish (or Save).
- Open your site in a private window to see the new icon; normal tabs may show the cached one for a while.
File to use: android-chrome-512x512.png (exactly 512×512, the size WordPress asks for). Make it with the favicon generator (free, no signup).
Code
Optional: also serve the SVG and .ico (add to your child theme’s functions.php after uploading the files to the site root)
add_action('wp_head', function () {
echo '<link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">' . "\n";
});Good to know
- WordPress’s Site Icon must be at least 512×512 px and square. From it, WordPress outputs 32×32 and 192×192 icon links, a 180×180 apple-touch-icon and a 270×270 Windows tile image.
- WordPress does not create favicon.ico. Upload the favicon.ico from the package to the site root (next to wp-config.php) so bots requesting /favicon.ico get an icon.
- Favicon plugins are unnecessary on current WordPress unless you want an SVG or dark-mode icon.
Check it worked
Run the favicon checker on your live URL to confirm every icon loads and Google has a usable size. If the old icon keeps showing, see favicon not showing. The full tag-by-tag explanation is in how to add a favicon.
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Questions people ask
What size should a WordPress favicon be?
Upload a square image of at least 512×512 pixels as the Site Icon. WordPress resizes it to 32, 180, 192 and 270 px automatically.
Why isn’t my WordPress favicon showing?
Usually the browser cache, a caching plugin or CDN serving old HTML, or a theme that hard-codes its own favicon link. Clear the caching plugin, test in a private window, and view the page source to check which icon links are actually output.
Can I use an SVG as the WordPress Site Icon?
Not through the Site Icon setting, which accepts raster images. Upload favicon.svg to the site root and add a link tag with a small snippet or a header-code plugin, keeping the PNG Site Icon as the fallback.