ICON to BMP Converter
FileFlip converts ICON to BMP entirely inside your browser, using ImageMagick compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert an ICON file to BMP?#
- Drop your ICON file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to BMP and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs ImageMagick on your own machine.
- Save the BMP file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting ICON to BMP lose quality?#
No. Converting ICON to BMP writes the data out again without discarding any of it, so nothing that was in the ICON file is lost on the way. What changes is the size of the file, not what is inside it.
Is it safe to convert ICON files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts ICON files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What ICON to BMP actually does to the file#
Converting ICON to BMP runs on ImageMagick, downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, writes the data out again without discarding any of it, keeps transparency, and drops extra images.
| Engine | ImageMagick |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: ICON → BMP |
| Downloaded to your browser | 14.1 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Lossless |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency | Kept | Carried through into the converted file. |
| Extra images | Dropped | The target format has nowhere to put it. |
Worth knowing before you start:
- ImageMagick is asked for a single image, so only the first frame, page, or icon size is read
What is an ICON file?#
ICON is ImageMagick's alternate name for the ICO format, the container Windows uses for small multi-resolution images shown as application, file and shortcut icons, so a file written as ICON is the same Windows icon container as one written as ICO.
Use ICON, or the equivalent ICO, for Windows application icons, favicons and shortcut images, where the file needs to offer several sizes in one container.
Convert to PNG when a single-resolution image is needed for general use, since most software outside Windows icon contexts doesn't expect an ICO/ICON container.
What is a BMP file?#
A BMP file holds a device-independent bitmap: a pixel grid stored with a Microsoft-defined header and, in the overwhelming majority of BMP files in the wild, no compression at all.
Use BMP when a Windows-native application, printer driver, or legacy tool specifically expects it, or when pixel data has to be stored with zero encoding overhead for a processing pipeline.
Convert BMP to PNG or JPEG for anything leaving that pipeline, since both produce a far smaller file and PNG matches BMP's lossless, generation-safe quality.
ICON to BMP questions people ask#
What is the difference between ICON and ICO?
There isn't one. ICON is ImageMagick's alternate name for its ICO coder, so a file written as ICON is the same Windows icon container as one written as ICO.
Why does ImageMagick have both ICO and ICON as format names?
ImageMagick registers ICON alongside ICO purely as a naming convenience, since some tools and scripts refer to Windows icon files by either name. Both write the same icon container.
What can an ICON/ICO file store?
An ICO/ICON file can store several versions of the same image at different sizes and color depths in one container, which is how Windows shows the right icon size for a desktop shortcut, a taskbar button, or a file listing.
Why are BMP files so much bigger than JPEG or PNG?
Most BMP files store every pixel's color value directly with no compression, so a BMP is close in size to the raw uncompressed image data. JPEG and PNG both apply compression, lossy in JPEG's case and lossless in PNG's, which is why the same photo saved as either is a fraction of the size of a BMP.