Favicon#External links

In March 1999, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 5, which supported favicons for the first time. Originally, the favicon was a file called favicon.ico placed in the root directory of a website. It was used in Internet Explorer's favorites (bookmarks) and next to the URL in the address bar if the page was bookmarked.{{cite web|url=http://www.htmlhelp.com/faq/html/all.html#favicon|title=Web Authoring FAQ – 8.11. How can I have a custom icon when people bookmark my site?|access-date=23 February 2011|date=26 April 2007|first=Darin|last=McGrew|website=htmlhelp.com|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216054408/https://www.htmlhelp.com/faq/html/all.html#favicon|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.golivein24.com/tips/favicon/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031207165529/http://www.golivein24.com/tips/favicon/|archive-date=7 December 2003|title=Creating favicons with Adobe Photoshop and GoLive|publisher=Adobe GoLive|access-date=25 February 2011|url-status=unfit}} A side effect was that the number of visitors who had bookmarked the page could be estimated by the requests of the favicon. This side effect no longer works, as all modern browsers load the favicon file to display in their web address bar, regardless of whether the site is bookmarked.{{cite web|url=http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/favicon.shtml|access-date=23 February 2011|title=What is Favicon.ico? Personalise Your Site's Bookmarks|first=Christopher|last=Heng|date=7 September 2008|publisher=thesitewizard.com}}{{Clear}}

In 2003, the .ico format was registered by a third party with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) under the MIME type image/vnd.microsoft.icon.{{cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/image/vnd.microsoft.icon|title=Published specification|last=Butcher|first=Simon|date=3 September 2003|publisher=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority|access-date=25 February 2011|archive-date=4 October 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031004204315/https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/image/vnd.microsoft.icon|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2011/02/11/ie9-rc-minor-changes-list/#comments|title=IE9 RC Minor Changes List|website=IEInternals|access-date=2016-04-07|archive-date=24 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324094641/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2011/02/11/ie9-rc-minor-changes-list/#comments|url-status=live}} However, when using the .ico format to display as images (that is, not as favicon), Internet Explorer cannot display files served with this standardized MIME type. A workaround for Internet Explorer is to associate .ico with the non-standard image/x-icon MIME type in web servers.{{cite web|url=https://github.com/paulirish/html5-boilerplate/commit/37b5fec090d00f38de64b591bcddcb205aadf8ee|title=commit 37b5fec090d00f38de64 to paulirish's html5-boilerplate|last=Irish|first=Paul|date=15 December 2010|publisher=GitHub|access-date=25 February 2011|archive-date=18 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018211508/https://github.com/paulirish/html5-boilerplate/commit/37b5fec090d00f38de64b591bcddcb205aadf8ee|url-status=live}}

RFC 5988 established an IANA link relation registry,{{cite web|title=Link Relations|url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/link-relations/link-relations.xml|publisher=IANA|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=30 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430173652/http://www.iana.org/assignments/link-relations/link-relations.xml|url-status=live}} and rel="icon" was registered in 2010 based on the HTML5 specification. The popular theoretically identifies two relations, shortcut and icon, but shortcut is not registered and is redundant. In 2011 the HTML living standard{{cite web|url=http://blog.whatwg.org/html-is-the-new-html5|title=HTML is the new HTML5|author=Ian Hickson|author-link=Ian Hickson|date=19 January 2011|work=The WHATWG Blog|publisher=WHATWG|access-date=10 August 2011|archive-date=6 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006023430/https://blog.whatwg.org/html-is-the-new-html5|url-status=live}} specified that for historical reasons shortcut is allowed immediately before icon;{{cite web|url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/rel#icon|title=HTML attribute: rel - #icon}} however, shortcut does not have a meaning in this context.

Internet Explorer 5–10 supports only the ICO file format. Netscape 7 and Internet Explorer versions 5 and 6 display the favicon only when the page is bookmarked, and not simply when the pages are visited as in later browsers.{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537656(VS.85).aspx|title=How to Add a Shortcut Icon to a Web Page|work=Microsoft Developer Network|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=15 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105185417/https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537656(VS.85).aspx|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=dead}}

File:Apple logo black.svg|alt=|Apple

File:Etsy icon.svg|alt=|Etsy

File:Microsoft icon.svg|alt=|Microsoft

File:PayPal Logo Icon 2014.svg|alt=|PayPal

File:Roblox player icon black.svg|alt=|Roblox

File:Spotify icon.svg|alt=|Spotify

File:Wikipedia's_W.svg|alt=|Wikipedia

File:X logo 2023.svg|alt=|X (formerly Twitter)

File:YouTube full-color icon (2017).svg|alt=|YouTube

The following tables illustrate support of various features with major web browsers. Unless noted, the version numbers indicate the starting version number of a supported feature.

The following table illustrates the image file format support for the favicon.

This table illustrates the different areas of the browser where favicons can be displayed.

{{Clear}}

Opera Software added the ability to change the favicon in the Speed Dial in Opera 10.{{cite web|publisher=Opera Software|access-date=27 February 2011|url=http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/1000b2/|title=Opera 10.0 beta 2 for Windows changelog|date=16 July 2009|archive-date=27 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727053624/http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/windows/1000b2/|url-status=live}}

This table illustrates the different ways the favicon can be recognized by the web browser. The standard implementation uses a link element with a rel attribute in the section of the document to specify the file's format, name and location.

{{notelist}}

If links for both PNG and ICO favicons are present, PNG-favicon-compatible browsers select which format and size to use as follows. Firefox and Safari will use the favicon that comes last. Chrome for Mac will use whichever favicon is ICO formatted, otherwise the 32×32 favicon. Chrome for Windows will use the favicon that comes first if it is 16×16, otherwise the ICO. If none of the aforementioned options are available, Chrome will use whichever favicon comes first, exactly the opposite of Firefox and Safari. Indeed, Chrome for Mac will ignore the 16×16 favicon and use the 32×32 version, only to scale it back down to 16×16 on non-retina devices. Opera will choose from any of the available icons at random.{{cite web|url=http://www.jonathantneal.com/blog/understand-the-favicon|title=Understand the Favicon|access-date=30 May 2013|date=16 January 2013|author=Jonathan T. Neal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523175450/http://www.jonathantneal.com/blog/understand-the-favicon/|archive-date=23 May 2013|url-status=dead}}

Only SeaMonkey does not fetch favicon.ico files in the website's root by default.{{cite web|url=https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/rel-shortcut-icon|title=rel="shortcut icon" considered harmful|access-date=15 November 2011|date=14 April 2010|author=Mathias Bynens|archive-date=7 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407123326/https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/rel-shortcut-icon|url-status=live}}

The current HTML5 specification recommends specifying multiple sizes for the icons, using the attributes rel="icon" sizes="space-separated list of icon dimensions" within a <link> tag.{{cite web|title=HTML Living Standard, Section 4.6.6.6 'Link type "icon"'|url=https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/semantics.html#rel-icon|access-date=2015-11-17|publisher=WHATWG|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221150723/https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/semantics.html#rel-icon|url-status=live}} Multiple icon formats, including container formats such as Microsoft .ico and Macintosh .icns files, as well as Scalable Vector Graphics may be provided by including the icon's content type in the format type="file content-type" within the <link> tag.

As of iOS 5, Apple mobile devices ignore the HTML5 recommendation and instead use the proprietary apple-touch-icon method detailed below. The Google Chrome web browser however, will select the closest matching size from those provided in the HTML headers to create 128×128 pixel application icons, when the user chooses the Create application shortcuts... from the "Tools" menu.

On Apple iPhones and iPads, as well as Android mobile devices, users can pin web pages as shortcuts icons to their home screen. These shortcut icons look similar to regular apps and web developers can provide dedicated icons for them.

For Apple devices with the iOS operating system version 1.1.3 or later, users can pin a website to the home screen using the Add to Home Screen button within the share sheet in Safari.{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/InternetWeb/Conceptual/iPhoneWebAppHIG/MetricsLayout/MetricsLayout.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007900-CH6-SW31|title=iPhone Human Interface Guidelines for Web Applications: Metrics, Layout Guidelines, and Tips|publisher=Apple Inc.|access-date=2010-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604075425/http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/internetweb/conceptual/iPhoneWebAppHIG/MetricsLayout/MetricsLayout.html|archive-date=4 June 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002051-CH3-SW4|title=Safari Web Content Guide: Specifying a Webpage Icon for Web Clip|publisher=Apple Inc.|access-date=2 June 2023|date=15 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520233918/https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002051-CH3-SW4|archive-date=20 May 2023|url-status=live}}

This works for any website. But for iOS to display the shortcut with an icon, the website needs to supply a {{tag|link|o|attribs=rel="apple-touch-icon" ...}} in the {{tag|head|o}} section of documents served by the website. If the custom icon is not provided, a thumbnail of the web page will be put on the home screen instead.{{cite web|url=http://allinthehead.com/retro/319/how-to-set-an-apple-touch-icon-for-any-site|access-date=11 March 2011|title=How To Set an Apple Touch Icon for Any Site|date=17 January 2008|first=Drew|last=McLellan|publisher=Allinthe head.com|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404180846/https://allinthehead.com/retro/319/how-to-set-an-apple-touch-icon-for-any-site|url-status=live}}

The app icon sizes on the different device classes differ. The recommended sizes for the icons are 152×152 for iPads (until iPad 2, released in 2011), 167×167 for iPads with Retina screens (iPad 3 and later) and 180×180 for iPhones. If no icon in the matching size is provided, iOS will pick the largest icon with rel="apple-touch-icon" and scale it automatically.{{Cite web|title=Configuring Web Applications|url=https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002051-CH3-SW4|access-date=2021-07-03|website=developer.apple.com|archive-date=20 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520233918/https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/SafariWebContent/ConfiguringWebApplications/ConfiguringWebApplications.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40002051-CH3-SW4|url-status=live}}

; Example code{{Cite web|title=How to add a favicon to your website – The modern browser guide|url=https://loqbooq.app/blog/add-favicon-modern-browser-guide|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-03|website=Loqbooq Blog|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711230818/https://loqbooq.app/blog/add-favicon-modern-browser-guide|archive-date=11 July 2021}}

The icon file referenced by apple-touch-icon is modified to add rounded corners. On the iOS versions prior to iOS 7, a drop shadow, and reflective shine would be added, and apple-touch-icon-precomposed icon may be provided to instruct devices not to apply reflective shine on the image.

No HTML is required by browsers or mobile devices to retrieve these icons. The website's root is the default location for the file apple-touch-icon.png (in order of priority).

On Android devices, users can use the Add to home screen function in Chrome's tools menu to pin a web page to their home screen.

This also works for any website, but if no favicon is provided, a generic icon is used. As Android app icons are sized in 48x48 points, websites should provide favicons sized in multiples of 48x48 pixels. For modern high resolution devices, Google recommends providing icons in 192x192 pixels.{{Cite web|title=Material Design|url=https://material.io/design/iconography/product-icons.html#grid-and-keyline-shapes|access-date=2021-07-03|website=Material Design|language=en|archive-date=28 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528164414/https://material.io/design/iconography/product-icons.html#grid-and-keyline-shapes|url-status=live}}

;Example code

Android also supports Web Manifest files, which makes it possible to integrate web sites deeper within the system. A Web Manifest is a JSON file, that specifies meta data for a progressive web app. It allows the developer to not only provide the icons but also a short name for display on the home screen as well as theme colors.{{Cite web|title=Add to Home screen - Progressive web apps (PWAs) {{!}} MDN|url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps/Add_to_home_screen|access-date=2021-07-03|website=developer.mozilla.org|language=en-US}} However, providing a web manifest file is not necessary for the Add to home screen feature to work.

Various browsers such as Firefox and Opera support animation of favicons. A bug report has been open for Firefox since 2001 requesting a way to disable this feature.{{cite web|url=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=111373|title=Bug 111373 - don't allow animated site icons (favicons)|date=2001-11-21|publisher=bugzilla.mozilla.org|access-date=1 June 2014|archive-date=9 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009165311/https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=111373|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9844389|title=Firefox Bug 111373 - don't allow animated site icons (mozilla.org)|date=7 July 2015|publisher=Hacker News|access-date=7 July 2015|archive-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919065152/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9844389|url-status=live}}

Due to the need always to check for it in a fixed location, the favicon can lead to artificially slow page-load time and unnecessary 404 entries in the server log if it is nonexistent.

The W3C did not standardize the rel-attribute, so there are other keywords such as shortcut icon that are also accepted by the user agent.{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/2005/10/howto-favicon|title=How to Add a Favicon to your Site|last=Dubost|first=Karl|date=24 October 2005|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|access-date=25 February 2011|archive-date=29 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191129143345/http://www.w3.org/2005/10/howto-favicon|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://jeffcode.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-doesnt-favicon-for-my-site-appear.html|publisher=Microsoft|work=jeffdav on code|title=why doesn't the favicon for my site appear in IE7?|date=27 December 2007|first=Jeff|access-date=11 March 2013|last=Davis|archive-date=9 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609045927/http://jeffcode.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-doesnt-favicon-for-my-site-appear.html|url-status=live}}

Favicons are often manipulated as part of phishing or eavesdropping attacks against HTTPS web pages. Many web browsers display favicons near areas of the web browser's UI, such as the address bar, that are used to convey whether the connection to a website is using a secure protocol like TLS. By changing the favicon to a familiar padlock image an attacker can attempt to trick the user into thinking they are securely connected to the proper website. Automated man-in-the-middle attack tools such as sslstrip utilize this trick.{{cite web|url=http://www.securitytube.net/video/157|publisher=SecurityTube|work=(see description of video)|title=Defeating Ssl Using Sslstrip (Marlinspike Blackhat)|date=21 February 2011|first=Moxie|access-date=9 July 2011|last=Marlinspike|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713161949/http://www.securitytube.net/video/157|archive-date=13 July 2011|url-status=dead}} In order to eliminate this, some web browsers, such as Firefox or Google Chrome, display the favicon within the tab whilst displaying the security status of the protocol used to access the website beside the URL.{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/firefox-14-arrives-with-secure-search/|access-date=18 July 2012|title=Firefox version 14 features|date=18 July 2012|archive-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919065125/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/firefox-14-arrives-with-secure-search/|url-status=live}}

Since favicons are usually located at the root of the site directory on the server, they can be employed with some reliability to disclose whether a web client is logged into a given service. This works by making use of the redirect-after-login feature of many websites, by querying for the favicon in a redirect-after-login URL and testing the server response to discern whether the user is given the requested resource (which means they are logged in), or instead redirected to the login page (which means that they are not logged into the service).{{Cite web|url=https://robinlinus.github.io/socialmedia-leak/|title=Your Social Media Fingerprint|last=Linus|first=Robin|access-date=2016-10-14|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221165804/https://robinlinus.github.io/socialmedia-leak/|url-status=live}}

In 2021, a method for browser tracking using favicons was demonstrated by researchers at the University of Illinois.{{Cite web|last=Goodin|first=Dan|date=2021-02-19|title=New browser-tracking hack works even when you flush caches or go incognito|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/new-browser-tracking-hack-works-even-when-you-flush-caches-or-go-incognito/|access-date=2021-02-21|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|archive-date=20 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220180227/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/new-browser-tracking-hack-works-even-when-you-flush-caches-or-go-incognito/|url-status=live}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Wiktionary-inline}}
• {{Commonscatinline}}
• [https://www.w3.org/2005/10/howto-favicon W3C web standards organization on how to add a Favicon]
• [https://patents.google.com/patent/US20090313579A1/en Systems and Methods Involving Favicons] 2008 patent application

{{web browsers}}

Category:1999 neologisms

Category:Computer icons

Category:Internet properties established in 1999

Category:Web design

Category:Website logos