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I'm a developer but not a very good designer. I'm looking for some lightweight software for creating icons for my applications.

I have a logo of the product and want to make it an icon, so any software suiting that would be ideal.

NOTE: I don't need software for creating icons from scratch; my main requirement is to convert from a large image to an .ico.

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7 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

I'm very fond of IcoFX it's free (Edit: no longer free).

I have used it on and off for a few years; it's easy to import other images and does a pretty good job in my opinion.

alt text

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2  
This surpasses Paint.NET ,because it makes the image look smooth in every icon size,while Paint.NET only resizes it. – John Apr 16 '10 at 14:24
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It's no longer free. – martineau Jul 21 '12 at 17:11
@martineau - Thanks for the update. I have updated my answer. FYI you could have edited this answer yourself to add this info. * (It's really encouraged)* It would have gained you a small amount of reputation and saved some time. – Nifle Jul 21 '12 at 21:44
@Nifle: True...I just recent gained enough rep to do so here. However there was no rush and besides, something this major should involve the original author if possible IMHO. – martineau Jul 21 '12 at 23:41
up vote 5 down vote

There's an extension for Paint.NET that allows you to save as .ico files.

It can be downloaded from here and is simply installed by copying the dll into the "FileTypes" directory of your Paint.NET installation.

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3  
I love Paint.NET! – Jared Harley Apr 15 '10 at 19:25
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I think it's a bit complicated for a quick Icon fix – Nifle Apr 15 '10 at 20:55
@Nifle - Installing the file type converter is simply a matter of copying the dll into the "FileTypes" directory. That's it. And don't forget the OP is asking about converting existing images to .ico files - not creating them from scratch. – ChrisF Apr 15 '10 at 20:56
up vote 3 down vote

IrfanView can resize and save images to ICO format

Full list of supported formats

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up vote 3 down vote

The GIMP works nicely for both creating images/icons and saving them as .ico files.

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up vote 2 down vote

Opacity is the best out there if you use a Mac.

alt text

alt text

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up vote 1 down vote

The seminal Microangelo has the ability to create icons from larger images.

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up vote 1 down vote

I've had awesome results using Axialis' IconWorkshop:

screenshot

It also includes plugins for Visual Studio and Photoshop (the Photoshop plugin is nice, you can create your icon in different sizes in Photoshop on a special image, and when you import it into IconWorkshop, it creates all those different icon sizes into the one file).

Sadly, it's not free, but they do have a 30-day trial available.

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