NAME
icotool - Convert and create Win32 icon and cursor files
SYNOPSIS
icotool [OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
This manual page document describes the icotool command.
The icotool program converts and creates icon (.ico) and cursor (.cur)
files. At the moment icons can only be created from and extracted into
PNG files. This is done using libpng.
Icon and cursor files are used mainly on the Microsoft Windows(R)
platform. Each icons or cursors file may contain multiple images of
various resolutions and with different number of colors. Cursor files
differ from icon files in that they also contain information about the
hotspot of each image.
Recent versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer use icons for small
site logotypes. The browser fetches a file called favicon.ico from a
web site, and uses the images in this file to represent the site in
menus and site lists. (This file is placed in the web site’s root
directory, like any other file.) Browsers like Galeon have copied this
behaviour and now also fetches .ico files and use them for site
logotypes.
As each icon or cursor file may contains multiple images of different
dimensions and depth, a conversion may result in multiple PNG files
being created. Correspondingly, multiple PNG files can be specified
when creating an icon/cursor file.
OPTIONS
These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes (‘-’).
-x, --extract
This option tells icotool that images from all icon/cursor files
given on the command line are to be extracted. Filter options
(see below) can be used to control what images that will be
extracted.
-l, --list
This options tells icotool that images in all given icon/cursor
files are to be listed. The output will look something like
this:
--icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4
--palette-size=16
--icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=8
--palette-size=256
-c, --create XXX
This options tells icotool to create an icon/cursor file using
all the PNG files given on the command line, in the order they
were specified. The number of bits per pixel used in the
icon/cursor file will depend on the number of colors used in the
PNG file. (If the PNG image has an indexed palette, it doesn’t
necessarily mean that the same palette will be used in the
created icon/cursor file.)
-i, --index=N
When listing or extracing files, this options tell icotool to
list or extract only the N’th image in each file. The first
image has index 1.
This option has no effect in create mode.
-w, --width=PIXELS Similar to --index, but this option allows
the image width to be matched instead. This option has no effect
in create mode.
-h, --height=PIXELS
Similar to --index, but this option allows the image height to
be matched instead. This option has no effect in create mode.
-b, --bit-depth=COUNT
Similar to --index, but this option allows the number of bits
per pixel in the image to be matched instead. Valid values are
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32.
In create mode, this option will allow you to specify a minimum
bit depth for images in the icon file.
-p, --palette-size=PIXELS
Similar to --index, but this option allows the number of colors
in the image palette to be matched instead. Images with 24 or 32
bits in icon/cursor files do not have a palette, and will
therefore have a palette size equal to 0.
This option has no effect in create mode.
-X, --hotspot-x=COORD
Similar to --index, but this option allows the x-coordinate of
the hotspot to be matched. This option only has effect on cursor
files.
In create mode, this can be used to specify the hotspot x-
coordinate.
-Y, --hotspot-y=COORD
Similar to --index, but this option allows the y-coordinate of
the hotspot to be matched. This option only has effect on cursor
files.
In create mode, this can be used to specify the hotspot y-
coordinate.
--icon This option specifies that only icon files are to be listed or
extracted. In create mode, this option can be used to specify
that an icon (instead of a cursor) is to be created. (This is
default in create mode.)
--cursor
This option specifies that only cursor files are to be listed or
extracted. In create mode, this can be used to specify that a
cursor (instead of an icon) is to be created.
-t, --alpha-threshold=LEVEL
Specifies the maximal alpha level in the PNG image for portions
which shall become transparent in the icon created. The default
value is 127. This is only used when creating icon files.
-o, --output=PATH
In extract mode, this option specifies a directory where
extracted files are to be created. If PATH does not exist, it is
assumed that it refers to a non-existing file instead. The first
image matched will be extracted to the file with that name.
In create mode, this option specified the name of the output
file. The default is to write the binary data to standard out
(which icotool will refuse if standard out is the terminal).
If PATH is ‘-’, then all output will be printed to standard out.
This option has no effect in list mode.
--help Show summary of options.
--version
Output version information and exit.
EXAMPLES
List all images in the file ‘demo.ico’:
$ icotool -l demo.ico
--icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
--icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
--icon --index=3 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
--icon --index=4 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
size=256
--icon --index=5 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
size=256
--icon --index=6 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=8 --palette-
size=256
List only 16-color images in ‘demo.ico’:
$ icotool -l --palette-size=16 demo.ico
--icon --index=1 --width=16 --height=16 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
--icon --index=2 --width=32 --height=32 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
--icon --index=3 --width=48 --height=48 --bit-depth=4 --palette-
size=16
Extract all images to current directory, naming the destination files
‘demo.ico_I_WxHxD.xpm’:
$ icotool -x -o . demo.ico
$ ls *.png
demo_1_16x16x4.png demo_3_48x48x4.png demo_5_32x32x8.png
demo_2_32x32x4.png demo_4_16x16x8.png demo_6_48x48x8.png
Extract all 256-color icon images in all .ico files in the current
directory, placing the extracted images in ‘img/’
$ icotool -x -o img/ -p 256 *.ico
Create an icon named ‘favicon.ico’ with two images:
$ icotool -c -o favicon.ico mysite_32x32.png mysite_64x64.png
AUTHOR
The icoutils were written by Oskar Liljeblad <oskar@osk.mine.nu>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 1998-2005 Oskar Liljeblad
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
TRADEMARKS
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and other countries.