Free web tool

ICNS to PNG

Get the PNG images out of a macOS app icon (.icns): the largest size, or every size as an .iconset folder that iconutil can turn back into an icon. The icon is read on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

Drop ICNS icons here Choose files ICNS, up to 50 MB each. App icons are inside an app: right-click it, Show Package Contents, then Contents, Resources.

Options

Sizes The largest size Every size, as a zip

Bytes of your files sent anywhere: 0

Files are read and converted in this tab, in a background worker. The only requests the page makes are for its own scripts. Your files are never sent anywhere.

How it works

An .icns file is a list of the same picture at several sizes, from 16 to 1024 pixels. Modern icons store most sizes as PNG files inside, and this page copies those out byte for byte, so nothing is recompressed.

The small sizes in many icons, and every size in icons from before macOS 10.7, use Apple's older formats: colors and an 8-bit mask packed with run-length coding. The page unpacks those in a background worker and writes them as PNG with their transparency.

Every size can come out as an .iconset folder with the names Apple's iconutil uses (icon_16x16.png, icon_16x16@2x.png and so on), so you can edit the images and run iconutil -c icns to build the icon again. PNG to ICNS does that step in the browser too.

How to convert ICNS to PNG

Find the icon. For an app, right-click it in Finder, choose Show Package Contents, and open Contents, then Resources. The icon is the .icns file there.
Pick the sizes. The largest size gives one PNG; Every size gives an .iconset folder in a zip.
Add the icon. Drop the .icns file on the box, or click it to choose it.
Download. Download the PNG, or the zip with the .iconset folder.

Limits

Up to 50 MB an icon.
Sizes stored as JPEG 2000, which some icons from macOS 10.5 and 10.6 use for 256 and 512 pixels, are left out, since only Safari decodes JPEG 2000. The row says which sizes were skipped.
Old black-and-white and 16-color icon types from the classic Mac OS are not read.
Icons in Assets.car catalogs, which newer apps use beside or instead of an .icns file, are a different format and are not read.

Questions

Are my files uploaded?

No. The page reads each icon with your browser and converts it in a background worker in this tab. There is no server step. The meter under the drop zone counts the bytes the page and its worker send while they work, so you can check this yourself. The only things the page downloads are its own scripts.

Where do I find an app's icon file?

Right-click the app in Finder, choose Show Package Contents, and open Contents, then Resources. The icon is usually AppIcon.icns or named after the app. Copy it somewhere first rather than moving it.

Are the PNGs the same quality as the icon?

Yes. Sizes stored as PNG inside the icon are copied out unchanged. Older sizes are unpacked exactly, pixel for pixel, with their transparency.

What is an .iconset folder?

A folder of PNGs with fixed names, such as icon_32x32.png and icon_32x32@2x.png, that Apple's iconutil turns into an .icns file. Edit the PNGs, then run iconutil -c icns on the folder, or use PNG to ICNS.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no account, no watermark and no limit beyond the size above.

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