maratoolFavicon generator vs image converter
A side-by-side comparison of Favicon Generator and Image Converter — HEIC to PNG, PNG to JPEG, WebP.
A modern site needs more than one favicon. Browsers want a 16×16 and 32×32 PNG, iOS wants a 180×180 apple-touch-icon, Android wants 192×192 and 512×512 for the manifest, and Windows still occasionally reads favicon.ico with multiple sizes embedded. A favicon generator emits all of those plus the HTML <link> tags.
An image converter can resize and re-encode — but it produces one file at a time, has no knowledge of which size each platform expects, and does not generate the HTML wiring.
When to use Favicon Generator
Use the favicon generator when shipping a new site or rebranding. Drop in a 512×512 (or SVG) source, get the full set: ICO, PNGs at every needed size, Apple touch icon, manifest entries, and the exact <link rel="icon"> tags to paste into your <head>.
When to use Image Converter — HEIC to PNG, PNG to JPEG, WebP
Use the image converter when you need a one-off resize — a single PNG for a slide deck, a HEIC turned into JPEG, a screenshot down-converted to WebP. It is the right tool when "favicon" is not the actual job.
Side-by-side comparison
| Favicon Generator | Image Converter — HEIC to PNG, PNG to JPEG, WebP | |
|---|---|---|
| Output | Full favicon set (10+ files) | Single converted image |
| Sizes generated | 16, 32, 48, 180, 192, 512 | You pick one |
| Formats | ICO + PNGs (+ SVG passthrough) | PNG / JPEG / WebP / HEIC / etc. |
| Manifest entries | Yes — site.webmanifest | No |
| HTML link tags | Yes — ready to paste | No |
| Apple touch icon | Yes — 180×180 | Only if you size it manually |
| Dark mode variants | Optional | No |
| Right tool for favicons | Yes | No |
Bottom line
Use the favicon generator for the full set and HTML; use the image converter when "convert one image" is the entire task.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just upload one PNG as my favicon?
You can, and browsers will scale it — but you lose crispness at small sizes and miss the iOS/Android home-screen icons entirely. A full set fixes both.
Do I still need favicon.ico in 2026?
Yes — some browsers and crawlers request /favicon.ico at the root regardless of your link tags. Keep one (with 16 and 32 embedded) as a fallback.
Is SVG enough for a favicon?
Modern browsers accept <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml"> and render it sharply at any size. iOS and older browsers still need PNGs, so SVG plus a small PNG fallback is the safest pairing.
How big should my source image be?
512×512 minimum, ideally an SVG. The generator downsizes for every required output. Starting smaller forces upscaling, which looks bad on retina screens.