ICO File Extension

Microsoft Windows Computer Icon File

Overview: Details of ICO File Extension

ICO File format is used as computer Icons in Microsoft Windows. All Images that are present at Start Menu, Desktop, Windows start screen consists of .ico extension.

It is also used as a container for BMP and PNG Images. ICO file is an extension for an Image file or Image container file that stores Icons of Windows applications.

Application Category

Image file / Image container file

Organization

Microsoft

Technical Specifications

MIME Type Variants

IANA: image/vnd.microsoft.icon

Microsoft: image/x-icon

Other Erroneous Types

image/ico image/icon text/ico application/ico

File Signature Details

Hexadecimal Signature 00 00 01 00

Location of ICO File Extension

Windows 7

%windir%\explorer.exe
C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll

Windows 10 System Paths

%systemroot%\system32\imageres.dll
%systemroot%\system32\networkexplorer.dll
%systemroot%\system32\netshell.dll
%systemroot%\system32\netcenter.dll
%systemroot%\system32\mmres.dll
%systemroot%\system32\mmcndmgr.dll

%systemroot%\system32\moricons.dll
%systemroot%\system32\gameux.dll
%systemroot%\system32\ddores.dll
%systemroot%\explorer.exe
%systemroot%\system32\pifmgr.dll
%systemroot%\system32\shell32.dll

Applications Supported

All Microsoft Windows Versions (Vista & earlier)

32-bit Operating Systems above Windows Vista

How to open and View ICO File

Icon Images can be open and view using free Image applications available in Windows.