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You are here: Digitope.com > Pixelshop > In Depth > Introduction to Icons
What is an icon?
An icon is a small picture file. Icons are used to represent files, folders, applications, parts of your computer, and web pages. You can create icons for all these applications using Pixelshop!
Icon sizes range from 16 x 16 to 256 x 256 pixels, and can have several different color depths.
An icon shown in varying sizes in Windows XP.
Picture and icons. What’s the difference?
Icons are different from pictures and images for primarily two reasons: an icon usually contain several different images in the same file, and icons have standard square deminisons. With regular pictures, such as GIFs, JPG and others, you have an infinite number of sizes to choose from. With icons, all this is standardized, so everything is uniform and compatible.
Sizes and formats.
Because icons are used in several different ways, such as for programs and toolbar buttons, and on different hardware, you need to have different sizes and color depths.
Microsoft Windows has three common icon sizes, 16 x 16, 3 2x 32, and 48 x 48. You icon should contain these three sizes. Additional sizes are 24 x 24 (which are used in rare cases, such as a toolbar set to Large Icons), and 128 x 128, which is used as a thumbnail.
The four most common sizes, 48x48, 32x32, 24x24, and 16x16
16 x 16 – Used for icons in toolbars (set to small icons), in the title bar of applications, the task bar, Widnows Explorer set to List. This is the size used for favicons.
24 x 24 – used primarly for toolbars (set to Large Icons) and the system (not applications or files) on the Start Menu. You don't actually create this size, as Windows shrinks the 32x32 icon for this size.
32 x 32 – this is the most common size, and is used everywhere, such as the Desktop, Start Mene, Windows Explorer, etc.
48 x 48 – used when set to Tile view in Windows Explorer, and if the computer is set to use larege icons.
Color depth is basically how many colors your icon has. Monochrome (black & white), 16 colors (predefined), 256 colors (definable), True Color (full RGB spectrum), and Alpha are the available color depths. Your icon should contain versions in 16 colors, 256 colors, and Alpha. Color depth is also measured in bits, i.e. how many bits each color uses. For example, Monochrome uses 1 bit, and 256 color icons use 8 bits. For more on the Alpha format, click here.
The five different color depth, Alpha, True Color, 256 Colors, 16 Colors, and Monochrome
Formats required
The icon sizes your icon should include depends on the application. Your icon can include more than the requirements, but the extra sizes will not be used.
Favicons:
You only need to include 16x16, but 32x32 or 48x48 can be included as well.
Windows XP applications or folders:
Your icon should contain a total of 9 separate icons, each in the three sizes and formats discussed above.
16 x 16, 16 Colors
16 x 16, 256 Colors
16 x 16, Alpha Colors
32 x 32, 16 Colors
32 x 32, 256 Colors
32 x 32, Alpha Colors
48 x 48, 16 Colors
48 x 48, 256 Colors
48 x 48, Alpha
The 9 formats and sizes your icon should contain.
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