Free tool
PNG to
ICNS converter.
One PNG in, one macOS .icns out, with all ten icon sizes and the padding and corner shape Apple's own apps use. No install, no Xcode, no upload.
Drop a PNG, or click to choose
1024x1024 recommended. PNG, JPEG, WebP, or SVG.
macOS padding
macOS shadow
What's inside the .icns
An .icns is a container, not an image. Each entry is a PNG tagged with a four-character OSType that tells macOS which context it belongs to. Ship a file missing the small entries and Finder scales the large one down badly in list and column views.
ic101024px512pt retina, App Store and Finder previewic09512px512pt standardic14512px256pt retinaic08256px256pt standardic13256px128pt retinaic07128px128pt standardic1264px32pt retinaicp532px32pt standardic1132px16pt retinaicp416px16pt standard, list viewsMore than a rename
Converting a PNG to .icns is not a format swap. The container holds ten separate images, and each one has to be rendered at its own size rather than sampled from a single large bitmap, or the 16 and 32 pixel entries come out muddy in Finder list views.
The shape matters too. macOS app icons are not square images, they sit inside a rounded square that fills about 80% of the canvas. This tool applies a superellipse mask, which is the continuous-corner shape Apple uses, then leaves roughly 10% margin per side so your icon sits at the same optical size as everything else in the Dock.
If your PNG already has its corners rounded and its margin baked in, set macOS padding to none so the treatment is not applied twice.
The usual alternative is iconutil, which ships with Xcode and needs a correctly named .iconset directory built by hand first. This does the same job with no toolchain and nothing leaving your browser.
Common questions
How do I convert a PNG to ICNS without Xcode?
Use the tool above. Drop in a PNG and download the .icns. The alternative on a Mac is iconutil, which comes with the Xcode command line tools and requires you to first build an .iconset directory with ten exactly-named files in it. This does the same thing in the browser with no install, and works on Windows and Linux too.
What size PNG do I need for an ICNS file?
1024x1024 with a transparent background. That is the largest entry macOS defines, so every other size is a downscale and nothing is upscaled. Smaller sources work but the large entries will look soft at full size in Finder and the App Store.
Why does my icon have a transparent border around it?
That is intentional macOS padding. Native app icons sit inside a rounded square with margin so they all appear the same visual size in the Dock. Without it your icon looks oversized next to every other app. If your source artwork already includes the margin, set macOS padding to none.
Can I convert ICNS back to PNG here?
Not yet. This tool encodes an .icns rather than reading one. On a Mac you can extract the images from an existing .icns with iconutil --convert iconset, which writes out each embedded PNG at its own size.
Is my image uploaded to a server?
No. The PNG resizing and the .icns encoding both happen in your browser in a web worker. Your artwork never leaves the machine, nothing is stored, and you can disconnect from the network after the page loads and it will still work.