Edit and Save ICO Images with Paint.NET

15 July, 2010 - 07:00 AM - 5 Comments

I have written many articles previously about Paint.NET which is one of the best free image editing programs on the web. Paint.NET come with a wide array of features, effects and you can add even more by writing custom ASP modules that you can deploy into the application. I had written a previous post on how to Edit and Save Photoshop PSD Files with Paint.Net and this article showcases another plug-in for Paint.Net that allows you to edit and save ICO files.

Paint.NET saving ICO files will allow you to use Paint.NET to create icons for your cursors, files, or even ico images for your websites or blogs if you want to do it manually.

Here are the instructions on how to have Paint.NET save ICO files.

Download the Paint.NET ICO Plug-in from Evanolds.com, now the developer offers the Paint.NET plug-in as a direct .DLL download which can trigger a security warning. I also decided to repackage it as a ZIP file for those who want to download it from my blog instead you can download the ICO addon for Paint.NET here.

Close Paint.NET
Extract and copy the IcoCur.dll file to your Paint.NET FileTypes folder
Example: D:\Program Files\Paint.NET\FileTypes
Open Paint.Net
You will now see ICONS (*.ico) as a list of FileTypes you can Open or Save As.

What makes this plug-in even more unique is that it saves multiple file sizes of the ICO within the same file, so you can save a 16×16, 32×32, 64×64…etc versions of the same ico file within the same file. When you edit an ICO file it will give you the choice to load one or more image sizes from within the .ico file:

Summary

As I continue to find more useful plugins, addons and other effects for the Paint.NET image editing software I will share them with my readers. I am currently going to be using this plug-in to help redo my ICO files for my Wanderer Thoughts Poetry blog.

-Dragon Blogger

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Written by Justin Germino (1518 Articles Published)

Working in the IT Industry for over 10 years and specializing in web based technologies. Dragon Blogger has unique insights and opinions to how the internet and web technology works. An Avid movie fan, video game fan and fan of trying anything and everything new.

Follow Justin Germino on Twitter @dragonblogger

Seany84

Thanks, I've been looking for something like this with Paint.net for a while now.

Go raibh míle maith agat.

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Jessica

Thank you for posting this information! I found it in a couple of other places, but all the links were dead. But now I've got it. Thanks again!

Service Desk

I use Photoshop but of course a free program always beats a paid one. I will try this very soon since I love customizing my personal desktop with wallpapers and unique icons.

Bob@36 bar stools

It's good that there are free options to do at least some of the stuff that the expensive photoshop does. I like paint.net, but mostly use gimp. I'll have to give paint.net another shot as I wasn't aware of the variety of plugins for it.

Nasif

i make curson with paint.net and use it for my mouse pointer ! i am a great fan of paint.net and like it because it dosen't slow my PC unlike adobe photoshopo or gimp.

element321

Justin, thanks for share this. I have been playing with Paint.Net for a few weeks and I like it a lot. It does some things that PhotoShop. I could definitely get some use out of this plugin...