Information about ICO |
File extension |
ico |
File category |
Image File |
Stands for |
Microsoft icon file |
Developer |
Microsoft |
Overview |
An ICO file extension is used by Microsoft Windows to display the image that represents the computer icons which are created for programs, shortcuts, start menu items, directories, files and folders; etc. For instance, a small computer image that exists on computer or laptop screen denotes ‘My Computer'. Another example is paintbrush along with colour palette is an icon for ‘Paint'. The pictures that are stored using this format are of various sizes and varied colour depths so that they can be scaled appropriately as per their usage. It is obligatory to use extension along with the executable files. Besides this, it has a great similarity with CUR file format which is used by Microsoft Windows. The only difference between the two is bytes that are used for identification. |
Technical description |
These files have pictures that range from 16 × 16 pixels to 256 × 256 pixels at 32-bit rate. Furthermore, it consists of 24-bit colour and 8-bit transparency. The aforesaid information is valid only for Windows 7 and its beyond versions, not for the previous ones. Prior ICO files provided support only to photos of 48 × 48 pixels. The latest icons have images of 256 × 256 pixels in order to acclimate screens of higher DPI (Dots per Inch). There are two bitmaps available for images that are of colour depth which is less than 32-bits. The first one is AND bitmap(image mask)- it determines which part of an icon is transparent and the other is XOR bitmap- it has an icon which is drawn onto the image mask. |
Links |
wikipedia.org |