Convert ICO to BMP
Convert an ICO into a BMP right here on the page. BMP stores a picture as plain rows of pixels with nothing squeezed out, which makes it easy for old Windows software and simple devices to read. Your file never leaves your computer.
Need the other direction? Convert BMP to ICO
How to convert ICO to BMP
- 1 Drop your ICO .ico file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to BMP, so there is no quality dial to set.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the BMP, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert ICO to BMP
- Nothing is squeezed, so there is nothing to go wrong and nothing to unpack.
- Simple enough that almost any program can read it.
- Testing and debugging, where getting straight at the picture is convenient.
- ICO: each picture inside it is capped at a small size.
ICO compared with BMP
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | ICO | BMP |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .ico | .bmp |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Uncompressed |
| Multiple pages | Yes | No |
| Colour depth | Up to 32-bit with alpha | 1, 4, 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits per pixel |
| Typical file size | Depends on mode | Largest |
| Browser support | Every browser | All current browsers |
| Introduced | 1985 | 1986 |
Quality and what changes
BMP stores the same content under a different set of rules, so what matters here is compatibility rather than picture quality. Convert once from the best source you have rather than through a chain of intermediate files.
- A multi-page ICO produces one BMP per page.
- One BMP limitation to keep in mind: essentially unusable on the web because of that size.
Questions about ICO to BMP
What happens to a multi-page ICO?
BMP holds one page, so each page becomes a separate file and you get the set as a ZIP. Nothing is discarded, it just cannot stay in a single document.
Is my ICO file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your ICO is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a BMP. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several ICO files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate BMP downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.