Favicon size guide: every size you actually need

Favicon size requirements grew piecemeal over about 25 years, as each new platform added its own preference. The result is a confusing spread of numbers. Here's what each one is actually for, so you know which ones matter for your site.

The sizes, in plain terms

• 16×16 — the original browser tab size. Still used as a minimum fallback by some browsers.
• 32×32 — the standard size on modern, higher-density (retina) screens. Most browsers now use this as the default tab icon.
• 48×48 — used by the Windows taskbar, and roughly the minimum size Google recommends for showing your favicon in search results.
• 180×180 — the Apple touch icon, used when a page is added to an iOS home screen.
• 192×192 — the standard Android Chrome home screen icon, declared through a web app manifest.
• 512×512 — used for Progressive Web App splash screens and app store-style listings; also a safe master size to design at and scale down from.

What you actually need to ship

You don't need to hand-craft all six sizes individually. A practical minimum setup covers three cases:

1. A 32×32 (and optionally 16×16) PNG for browser tabs, plus a favicon.ico as a fallback for older crawlers
2. A 180×180 PNG for the Apple touch icon
3. 192×192 and 512×512 PNGs referenced in a site.webmanifest for Android and PWA support

Design at 512×512 or, better, as an SVG, then export the rest down from that single source. Scaling down from a large, simple design holds up far better than trying to scale a detailed logo up from something tiny.

ICO vs PNG

A .ico file can bundle multiple sizes into one file and remains the most broadly compatible format, including with older tools that only look for /favicon.ico in your site's root by default. PNG favicons, declared explicitly with <link> tags, are what modern browsers actually prefer to render. The safest setup includes both: a root favicon.ico as a fallback, and PNG <link> tags for everything else.

Related reading: favicon not showing in Google search · fixing a broken Apple touch icon