The GimpWhilst exploring the wonders of an open source app called “The GIMP”, I noticed a handy little feature that allows it to save any image as an Windows compatible .ico file. For Windows XP, most icons are 32×32 or 48×48 in size, so as long as you have an image you want to convert around those sizes (or you could just create one yourself) you’ll be sorted.

How to do it:

  1. Open the gimp
  2. Go to “File -> Open” and locate the image you want to convert (can be most formats, i know as a fact that PNGs work best to make transparent .ico’s)
  3. Make sure the size of the image is 48×48 or 32×32 (depending on your preference)
  4. Then in the images individual window, go to “File -> Save As” and change the file extension to .ico (e.g. example.PNG -> example.ico) making sure you save the image in the folder you want
  5. A window will pop-up with the title “GIMP Windows Icon Plugin”, just click “OK”
  6. There you go, your done!

Trackback link - http://www.dailycupoftech.com/2007/01/27/create-transparent-windows-%e2%80%9cico%e2%80%9d-from-pngs-using-the-gimp/trackback/
Tim Fehlman