macOS App Icon Generator
Describe your app or upload a logo and get a complete macOS icon set: ten sizes at 1x and 2x, a Contents.json for Xcode, and a real AppIcon.icns, in one zip.
macOS App Icon Generator: Ten Sizes, One Contents.json, a Real .icns
A macOS icon set with a real .icns: ten sizes, one Contents.json, one zip.
Mac apps still want the full ladder: 16, 32, 128, 256 and 512 px, each at 1x and 2x, listed in an AppIcon.appiconset, plus an .icns file for Finder, Electron and anything else that reads the classic format. This tool draws the icon from your description, or takes the logo you upload, and writes all of it.
How to make a macOS app icon
- Describe the icon and pick a style, or upload a square logo of at least 1024 px.
- Pick a background color if you’d rather flatten a transparent source. Mac icons may keep transparency.
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Run, then drag
AppIcon.appiconsetinto your Xcode asset catalog, or point your build atAppIcon.icns.
What’s in the zip
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AppIcon.appiconset/withicon_16x16.png,[email protected],icon_32x32.png,[email protected],icon_128x128.png,[email protected],icon_256x256.png,[email protected],icon_512x512.pngand[email protected]. -
AppIcon.appiconset/Contents.jsonlisting all ten with themacidiom, written the way Xcode writes it. -
AppIcon.icnswith the same ten images packed inside. - The 1024 px square everything was cut from.
What an .icns file actually is
An .icns is a container. It opens with the four bytes icns and the file’s total length, then a list of chunks: a four-letter type, a length, and a PNG payload each. icp4 is 16 px, icp5 is 32 px, ic07 is 128 px, ic08 is 256 px, ic09 is 512 px, and ic11 through ic14 plus ic10 hold the 2x versions from 32 to 1024 px. Renaming a PNG to .icns skips all of that, which is why Finder then shows a generic document icon. This tool writes every chunk from the 1024 px source.
Tips
- Give it a little depth. Mac icons live on a light Dock, and a soft shadow or gradient inside the artwork reads better than a flat glyph. The Glass style is a good default here.
- Square corners. macOS masks the rounded shape itself.
- Keep the subject inside the middle eighty percent so nothing touches the mask edge.
FAQ
What is Icon Composer, and do I still need it? Icon Composer is Apple’s tool for the layered, glass-style icons introduced with macOS Tahoe. You need it only if you want that layered look. The flat 1024 px icon this tool makes works on every macOS version including the latest, and it’s what most apps ship.
Does this support the new macOS icon style? It draws a flat icon and macOS applies the current system look to it. It doesn’t write the layered Icon Composer format yet.
Why ten sizes when iOS needs one?
Xcode makes iOS sizes from a single 1024 image, but macOS catalogs still list every size explicitly, and the .icns format stores them all. The ladder is written for you so you never have to export ten files by hand.
Can I just get the .icns from a logo I already have? Yes. Mac Icon Converter is the upload-only version of this flow.
I need the icon for other platforms too. App Icon Generator has the same flow with a platform menu covering iOS, Android, Chrome extensions, the web and Windows.