1ICOTOOL(1) General Commands Manual ICOTOOL(1)
2
6 icotool - Convert and create Win32 icon and cursor files
7
9 icotool [OPTION]... [FILE]...
10
12 This manual page document describes the icotool command.
13 The icotool program converts and creates icon (.ico) and cursor (.cur)
15 files. At the moment icons can only be created from and extracted into
16 PNG files. This is done using libpng.
17 Icon and cursor files are used mainly on the Microsoft Windows(R) plat‐
19 form. Each icons or cursors file may contain multiple images of various
20 resolutions and with different number of colors. Cursor files differ
21 from icon files in that they also contain information about the hotspot
22 of each image.
23 Recent versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer use icons for small
25 site logotypes. The browser fetches a file called favicon.ico from a
26 web site, and uses the images in this file to represent the site in
27 menus and site lists. (This file is placed in the web site's root
28 directory, like any other file.) Browsers like Galeon have copied this
29 behaviour and now also fetches .ico files and use them for site logo‐
30 types.
31 As each icon or cursor file may contains multiple images of different
33 dimensions and depth, a conversion may result in multiple PNG files
34 being created. Correspondingly, multiple PNG files can be specified
35 when creating an icon/cursor file.
36
38 These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
39 options starting with two dashes (`-').
40 -x, --extract
42 This option tells icotool that images from all icon/cursor files
43 given on the command line are to be extracted. Filter options
44 (see below) can be used to control what images that will be
45 extracted.
46 -l, --list
48 This options tells icotool that images in all given icon/cursor
49 files are to be listed. The output will look something like
50 this:
51 --icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4 --pal‐
53 ette-size=16
54 --icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=8 --pal‐
55 ette-size=256
56 -c, --create
58 This options tells icotool to create an icon/cursor file using
59 all the PNG files given on the command line, in the order they
60 were specified. The number of bits per pixel used in the
61 icon/cursor file will depend on the number of colors used in the
62 PNG file. (If the PNG image has an indexed palette, it doesn't
63 necessarily mean that the same palette will be used in the cre‐
64 ated icon/cursor file.)
65 -i, --index=N
67 When listing or extracing files, this options tell icotool to
68 list or extract only the N'th image in each file. The first
69 image has index 1.
70 This option has no effect in create mode. -w, --width=PIXELS
72 Similar to --index, but this option allows the image width to be
73 matched instead. This option has no effect in create mode.
74 -h, --height=PIXELS
76 Similar to --index, but this option allows the image height to
77 be matched instead. This option has no effect in create mode.
78 -b, --bit-depth=COUNT
80 Similar to --index, but this option allows the number of bits
81 per pixel in the image to be matched instead. Valid values are
82 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32.
83 In create mode, this option will allow you to specify a minimum
85 bit depth for images in the icon file.
86 -p, --palette-size=PIXELS
88 Similar to --index, but this option allows the number of colors
89 in the image palette to be matched instead. Images with 24 or 32
90 bits in icon/cursor files do not have a palette, and will there‐
91 fore have a palette size equal to 0.
92 This option has no effect in create mode.
94 -X, --hotspot-x=COORD
96 Similar to --index, but this option allows the x-coordinate of
97 the hotspot to be matched. This option only has effect on cursor
98 files.
99 In create mode, this can be used to specify the hotspot x-coor‐
101 dinate.
102 -Y, --hotspot-y=COORD
104 Similar to --index, but this option allows the y-coordinate of
105 the hotspot to be matched. This option only has effect on cursor
106 files.
107 In create mode, this can be used to specify the hotspot y-coor‐
109 dinate.
110 --icon This option specifies that only icon files are to be listed or
112 extracted. In create mode, this option can be used to specify
113 that an icon (instead of a cursor) is to be created. (This is
114 default in create mode.)
115 --cursor
117 This option specifies that only cursor files are to be listed or
118 extracted. In create mode, this can be used to specify that a
119 cursor (instead of an icon) is to be created.
120 -t, --alpha-threshold=LEVEL
122 Specifies the maximal alpha level in the PNG image for portions
123 which shall become transparent in the icon created. The default
124 value is 127. This is only used when creating icon files.
125 -o, --output=PATH
127 In extract mode, this option specifies a directory where
128 extracted files are to be created. If PATH does not exist, it is
129 assumed that it refers to a non-existing file instead. The first
130 image matched will be extracted to the file with that name.
131 In create mode, this option specified the name of the output
133 file. The default is to write the binary data to standard out
134 (which icotool will refuse if standard out is the terminal).
135 If PATH is `-', then all output will be printed to standard out.
137 This option has no effect in list mode.
139 --help Show summary of options.
141 --version
143 Output version information and exit.
144
146 List all images in the file `demo.ico':
147 $ icotool -l demo.ico
148 --icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
149 size=16
150 --icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
151 size=16
152 --icon --index=3 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
153 size=16
154 --icon --index=4 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
155 size=256
156 --icon --index=5 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
157 size=256
158 --icon --index=6 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
159 size=256
160 List only 16-color images in `demo.ico':
162 $ icotool -l --palette-size=16 demo.ico
163 --icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
164 size=16
165 --icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
166 size=16
167 --icon --index=3 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
168 size=16
169 Extract all images to current directory, naming the destination files
171 `demo.ico_I_WxHxD.xpm':
172 $ icotool -x -o . demo.ico
173 $ ls *.png
174 demo_1_16x16x4.png demo_3_48x48x4.png demo_5_32x32x8.png
175 demo_2_32x32x4.png demo_4_16x16x8.png demo_6_48x48x8.png
176 Extract all 256-color icon images in all .ico files in the current
178 directory, placing the extracted images in `img/'
179 $ icotool -x -o img/ -p 256 *.ico
180 Create an icon named `favicon.ico' with two images:
182 $ icotool -c -o favicon.ico mysite_32x32.png mysite_64x64.png
183
185 The icoutils were written by Oskar Liljeblad <oskar@osk.mine.nu>.
186
188 Copyright © 1998 Oskar Liljeblad
189 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
191 NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
192 PURPOSE.
193
195 Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
196 United States and other countries.
197icotool (icoutils) April 18, 2005 ICOTOOL(1)