orbfile

ICO to BMP Converter

Convert ICO to BMP entirely in your browser — private, fast, and free, with no file size limit. Drop a ICO file below — conversion happens locally on your device, so the file never leaves your computer.

Drop files, or click to browse

ICO files only — any size, any number of files

Frequently asked questions

Is this ICO to BMP converter really free?+

Yes. There's no file limit, no watermark, and no account required. Because the conversion runs in your browser instead of on a server, there's no processing queue to pay for.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?+

No. Orbfile decodes and re-encodes the image locally using ImageMagick compiled to WebAssembly, running entirely inside your browser tab. The bytes never leave your device.

Will converting to BMP lose quality?+

There's a quality slider so you can balance file size against visual quality. At high quality settings the difference is usually invisible.

Can I convert more than one file at once?+

Yes — drop as many files as you like and download them individually or as a single ZIP.

Is there a maximum file size?+

There's no fixed upload limit — Orbfile isn't uploading anything. The practical ceiling is your device's own memory, which comfortably handles even large, high-resolution photos.

How do I convert ICO to BMP?+

Drop your ICO file into the box above — it's automatically converted to BMP and a download link appears in seconds. No settings are required, though you can adjust quality if the tool offers a slider.

About ICO and BMP

What is ICO?

ICO is the Windows icon container format — it can bundle several sizes of the same image into one file for favicons and app icons.

Full ICO format guide →

What is BMP?

BMP is an old Windows bitmap format that stores pixel data with little or no compression — simple, but large.

Full BMP format guide →

People usually reach for this conversion because BMP offers dead-simple, well-documented structure, sidestepping a real ICO weak spot: not meant for anything beyond small icons. It's especially useful for legacy Windows software.

How it works

  1. 1

    Drop your file in

    Drag your image onto the box above, or click it to browse — there's no account to create and no upload to wait on.

  2. 2

    Pick your settings

    The output format is already set for this page — just adjust any extra options shown, if there are any.

  3. 3

    Download the result

    Your browser processes everything locally and hands you a download link the moment it's done — nothing was ever sent to a server.

Is it private?

Everything happens locally, inside this browser tab. Your image is read from disk, processed with WebAssembly running on your own device, and handed back to you as a download — it's never transmitted anywhere, so there's nothing to intercept and nothing stored on a server.

Common use cases

  • Legacy Windows software
  • Situations that specifically require uncompressed pixel data
  • Preparing images for a website or online store
  • Attaching a photo to an email with a size limit

Supported formats

This is one of many pairings the image toolkit handles. In total it covers:

Related conversions

Format details

About ICO files+

ICO is the Windows icon container format — it can bundle several sizes of the same image into one file for favicons and app icons.

ICO was built for exactly one job: giving Windows a single file that holds several resolutions and color depths of the same icon, so the operating system can pick whichever version fits — a small taskbar icon versus a large desktop shortcut, for instance — without any scaling. That same trick is why browsers still expect a site's favicon.ico to work the same way: one file, several embedded sizes, used at whatever resolution the browser tab needs.

How to open a ICO file

Opens readily in Windows Explorer previews it automatically, Any web browser. For real editing, use GIMP, IcoFX, Photoshop (with a plugin).

Good for

  • multi-resolution support in a single file
  • the format browsers expect for favicon.ico

Watch out for

  • not meant for anything beyond small icons
Developed by: MicrosoftReleased: 1990Wikipedia Full ICO format guide →
About BMP files+

BMP is an old Windows bitmap format that stores pixel data with little or no compression — simple, but large.

BMP dates back to the earliest versions of Microsoft Windows, where it was used as the native format for storing raw pixel grids with minimal processing overhead — appropriate for the modest CPUs of the era, but wasteful by modern standards. Because it stores pixels close to as-is, a BMP file opens instantly and never introduces compression artifacts, but it can be five to ten times larger than a JPEG of the same image. Today it mostly survives in legacy Windows software and a few specialized pipelines that specifically want uncompressed pixel data.

How to open a BMP file

Opens readily in Windows Photos, macOS Preview, Any web browser. For real editing, use Photoshop, GIMP, MS Paint.

Good for

  • dead-simple, well-documented structure
  • no compression artifacts

Watch out for

  • huge file sizes compared to almost any modern format
Developed by: MicrosoftReleased: 1990Wikipedia Full BMP format guide →

Need a different format? Try the full Image Converter, or explore all image tools.