Convert GIF, JPEG picture to icon for free

Posted on November 27, 2008 at 5:47 am

Earlier I wrote a post about a program called ImagIcon, a free utility that can be used to convert an image into an icon. You could take a BMP, JPEG, PNG, or GIF and instantly convert it into ICO (Windows Icon) format. Once in icon format, you can then use the custom icon on a folder or file, etc.

ToyCon is another program that lets you convert multiple image formats to ICO format and also lets you convert ICO files to PNG image files. So if this does the same thing as ImagIcon, then why even mention it right?

Well, there are a few advantages of ToyCon over ImagIcon for converting a picture into an icon. Firstly, it doesn’t require any installation! Just run the executable file and you’re good to go. This means you can easily carry it with you on a USB stick.

Secondly, it supports the new Vista ICO format, which supports 256x 256 high resolution icons in PNG format. Finally, it’s more powerful and has more features than ImagIcon.

Once you run it, you’ll see a box pop up with a green arrow pointing into it. If you right-click, you can set the options for the conversion.

convert image to icon

Firstly, choose what type of conversion you want to perform, i.e. PNG to ICO, BMP to ICO, JPG to ICO, TGA to ICO, or GIF to ICO. Then you can go to size and choose from small (64×64), medium (128×128) and large (256×256).

You can also go to Choose Formats and pick the exact format for the icon, including 4 bits, 8 bits, 32 bits, and Vista.

picture to icon

Finally, click on Options and select Choose Destination so that once the program has finished converting the image to an icon, you can save it to your desired location.

convert jpeg to ico

Now in order to convert an image to ICO format, just drap and drop the image onto the box. That’s it!

Overall, it’s a nice program for quick conversion to Windows icons. It’s portable and doesn’t require an install. You have a huge range of sizes and formats to choose from for icon sizes and colors. Plus you can batch convert many images to icons by just dragging multiple image onto the box at once. Enjoy! Source: FreewareGenius

» Filed Under Free Software Downloads

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Comments

12 Responses to “Convert GIF, JPEG picture to icon for free”

  1. Doe said on : November 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    There is no valid link on softpedia.com, freewaregenius or here…does anyone have an actual link for this program…?


  2. Phao Loo said on : November 29th, 2008 at 8:21 am

    Amazing it is a portable utility so that we can copy it onto usb and bring anywhere.
    I usually convert jpg, giv and png to ICO by XnView. It is really small with many functions and completely free.


  3. Steven Birmingham said on : December 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    While unzipping the Toycon program, my AVG anti-virus advised it was infected with a trojan virus..may want to check it out


  4. Jeff said on : December 7th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

    Nice program.

    By the way ImagIcon is portable too if you install it to a USB drive instead of your hard disk.


  5. Phao Loo said on : December 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am

    This I have to agree with Jeff, it is quite small and don’t need to install.


  6. John Lewis said on : May 16th, 2009 at 8:33 am

    Seems to work good for me … No issues.


  7. John said on : January 15th, 2010 at 9:34 am

    It’s is essential to convert into .ico. As web specialist, to create favicon (image at address bar), it’s very important.


  8. Hassel said on : March 7th, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    This program is pretty old and not worth using anymore. If you want to convert from JPG to ICO or GIF to ICO, check out this site:

    http://converticon.com/

    It’s online and generates high quality images, so you don’t even have to install anything.


  9. Jaime said on : March 31st, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    How can I convert a PNG picture to an icon in Windows? Please help…


  10. Mark said on : May 10th, 2010 at 5:27 am

    Oh for Gods sake Doe .. Google “ToyCon” and you’ll find plenty of download links.


  11. James said on : June 19th, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    I agree with what Hassel says; there are a lot of good programs online now:

    I use iconverticons.com/ because it support conversion to icns, ico, and png, for Macs, Windows, and Linux, and it supports all kinds of input formats that others don’t, like SVG.

    converticon.com/ and convertico.com/ are also pretty good although they don’t have as many features.


  12. convert ico said on : July 13th, 2010 at 4:19 am

    Like Hassel, this article is pretty outdated. There are programs like iconverticons.com/ that can convert not just gif and jpg but png to ico too. You can even make ico with svg. And this program works for Mac users too, who need to create icons.


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