How do ICO and HEICcompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
Icon File Format
ICO is the icon file format used by Windows for application icons and website favicons. It can contain multiple image sizes and color depths in a single file.
High Efficiency Image Container
HEIC is Apple's preferred image format, used by iPhones and iPads since iOS 11. It delivers significantly better compression than JPG while maintaining higher quality, but compatibility remains limited outside the Apple ecosystem.
| Specification | ICO | HEIC |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Icon File Format | High Efficiency Image Container |
| Extension | .ico | .heic |
| MIME type | image/x-icon | image/heic |
| Category | Image | Image |
| Developer | Microsoft | MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) |
| Year introduced | 1985 | 2015 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
Both ICO and HEIC have their strengths. ICO excels at website favicons, while HEIC is better for iphone and ipad photography.
Need to switch formats? Convert for free with SquishConvert.