Tell me more ×
Graphic Design Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional graphic designers and non-designers trying to do their own graphic design. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite
1

I want to create/edit a desktop icon that must work on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (KDE/Gnome) and mobile devices. Is there a tool that handles all these different formats?

share|improve this question
Off topic: specific to implementation on OS platforms – e100 Jan 5 '11 at 9:08
My question is about the TOOL, not the format itself. – michelemarcon Jan 5 '11 at 12:28
Then the question's headline needs to be edited to make this clear. – e100 Jan 5 '11 at 17:00
OSX and Linux (and UNIX systems too) use png files for icons. Windows is the odd man out with their ico format. – dkuntz2 Jan 12 '11 at 14:29

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

IcoFX is a free package for creating and editing icons. It works very well in Windows and can also save to 'Macintosh' format; so I'm not sure how well it would work for OS X (I'm not a Mac user). I've been using it with all my Windows stuff for a couple of years now, and have not found it lacking any important features.

EDIT: As pointed out in the comments, IcoFX can't go larger than 256x256, but if you need something larger than that, it's really not an icon anymore. :)

Axialis Software has a top-notch package, Icon Workshop, that can do about anything for any icon. It runs between $30 and $70 US, depending on what you want. I used it for years with great results.

I believe Linux distros use either .png or .svg formats for their icons, so those can be created from most any graphics package.

share|improve this answer
My vote for IcoFX. Though not reaching 512x512,(256x256 maximum size) wont allow that size for Leopard, for example. Still, it exports quite well in the icns format that Mac OSX uses, and to date, basically seems to have worked, in my experience...But I'd rather do the sizes versions myself and import into IcoFX than let the auto generated ones that IcoFx creates when you hit the convert to mac button... – S.gfx Jan 5 '11 at 17:12
1  
+1 for Axialis. It can do everything about icons. – poke Jan 14 '11 at 9:46
up vote 0 down vote

There is, unfortunately, no such format - both Windows and OS X uses their own propreitary container formats for their desktop icons.

The closest you can get would probably be to use a set of Photoshop plugins such as these to convert your files to the appropriate format and offer both (in addition to PNG for Linux).

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.