ICO to PPM Converter

Converting ICO to PPM produces an uncompressed RGB dump of the largest icon. Useful when academic or scientific pipelines need icon imagery in Netpbm format.

image

Drag & drop image files here, or browse

Drop your ICO files here

What changes when you convert ICO to PPM

Alpha is stripped entirely. File size is large because PPM has no compression. Only the largest embedded icon size converts.

When to use this conversion

  • Feeding icon imagery to academic image processing assignments
  • Integrating with scientific pipelines using Netpbm format
  • Debugging custom imaging code with icon source data

Where the output plays

PPM is handled by Netpbm tools, ImageMagick, and GIMP. Not a consumer format.

About these formats

ICO (Windows Icon)

ICO is the Windows icon format. A single .ico file can hold multiple resolutions (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 256×256) and color depths simultaneously, letting the OS pick the best for context. Every browser serves favicons as ICO, and Windows desktop icons use it natively.

PPM (Portable Pixmap)

PPM is a trivially simple uncompressed RGB format from the Netpbm suite. Each pixel is three bytes, prefixed by a tiny text header. Used in academic image processing, scientific computing pipelines, Linux kernel boot splashes, and as a debug format because anyone can write a parser in 20 lines.

How It Works

  1. Add your ICO files Drag ICO images onto the page or click to pick them from your file browser. Batch uploads are fine.
  2. Choose PPM settings Pick quality or compression settings for the PPM output. Defaults match common target use cases.
  3. Convert in your browser The converter runs locally via WebAssembly. Nothing uploads. Progress shows per file so you know exactly what's happening.
  4. Download PPM files Grab each converted file individually, or download the whole batch as a single ZIP.

Features

Supported Formats

FAQ

Why convert an icon to PPM?

Only when a specific academic or scientific pipeline requires Netpbm format. Otherwise PNG is a better target.

Will transparency be preserved?

No. PPM stores only RGB. Transparent icon regions become opaque RGB.

What is ICO (Windows Icon)?

ICO is the Windows icon format. A single .ico file can hold multiple resolutions (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 256×256) and color depths simultaneously, letting the OS pick the best for context. Every browser serves favicons as ICO, and Windows desktop icons use it natively.

What is PPM (Portable Pixmap)?

PPM is a trivially simple uncompressed RGB format from the Netpbm suite. Each pixel is three bytes, prefixed by a tiny text header. Used in academic image processing, scientific computing pipelines, Linux kernel boot splashes, and as a debug format because anyone can write a parser in 20 lines.

Are my files private?

Yes. The converter runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly. Your images are never uploaded, never sent to a server, and never leave your device.

Is there a file size limit?

There's no hard limit, but because everything runs in your browser you're bounded by available memory. Very large images (over a few hundred megapixels) can hit browser memory limits. Process in smaller batches if you run into issues.