The icons are very small images that are often used to “decorate” programs and apps, or to embellish a website by appearing on the browser bar at the time of browsing the URL. This means that you might need a tool to shape your icons, whatever your ultimate goal. Of course, you could use Adobe Photoshop, but at what price? The program costs a lot of money and buying it to create a simple icon is a waste of money. Here is explained why today we will list the top 10 programs to create free icons, but not before remembering to take a look at our list of sites to download free icons.
Index of programs
- Efiresoft Image to Icon Converter
- IconoMaker
- Iconion
- SimplyIcon
- Maqme Icon
- Free Icon Maker
- Falcon Icon Studio
- Babya Icon Studio
- Imagicon
- Image 2 Icon Converter
1. Efiresoft Image to Icon Converter – ^
The first program on the list is Efiresoft Image to Icon Converter: you can use it, as its name suggests, to transform normal photos into icons, which you can also use to customize the app links on the desktop. This software easily supports a multitude of graphic formats, such as JPG, PNG, ICO, BMP and GIF. It is also very simple to use, since you just need to drag the images you want onto its interface. Of course you can use it to set some elements of the icon, such as color and size. When you’re done, you can save the output file and use it as you like and like it.
2. IconoMaker – ^
IconoMaker is without a doubt one of the best programs to create icons for free: this is because it allows you to convert an image of different formats into a file to be used as an icon, choosing the size and modifying it pixel by pixel. In addition, IconMaker has another very interesting advantage: it has an intuitive layout and a series of very useful tools, intelligently organized on the main interface. You can also constantly monitor the preview of the changes you are making to your image, and use options such as the eyedropper, the transparency brush, and the zoom. In fact, it’s a small miniature photo editor.
3. Iconion – ^
Iconion is definitely one of the programs to create the most reliable free icons in circulation, also because of a fundamental feature: it allows you to create complex icons using a wide range of predefined templates. This software is very useful for creating very elegant icons, which you can also use for the buttons on your website. Inside you find several image modifiers, which allow you to work on different opportunities: you can for example work on the borders, add shadows, give it a specific shape (like the diamond) and adjust other aspects such as transparency and opacity. Finally, you can save the final project in BMP, JPG and PNG, and you can do it using vector templates, to get a great quality.
4. SimplyIcon – ^
SimplyIcon is a very direct and Spartan software, which gives you the ability to automatically create icons of the corresponding images, so files in .ICO format. To use it you only have to drag the photos and release them within its main interface: everything else will think SimplyIcon. Furthermore, this application can adapt any image of any size to the icon format. Unfortunately, there is an obligation that you will not be able to steal: to use this program, you will necessarily need to have installed the .NET Framework on your operating system. On the other hand, it has an almost immediate response time, and does not weigh down the performance of the computer.
5. Maqme Icon – ^
Even Maqme Icon is a very complex and very agile software, focused on the creation of icons: it allows you what you saw just above, or create .ICO files from your favorite images. In practice, this small program is designed to give you a quick and easy way to instantly create your own icons: to do so, you have to upload a photo of a supported format and then choose the size of the icon to create. Then you just click on the save button to get your icon. Before doing all this, you can also customize the color depth, all with another advantage: Maqme Icon consumes very few system resources and is really fast.
6. Free Icon Maker – ^
Free Icon Maker is another tool that is among the best programs to create free icons: it is particularly intuitive, it is light, but it is also a very powerful tool, designed especially for those who develop websites. The interface has a minimalist appearance, but it is also quite thin: in essence, the program does not abounds with options and tools, but still provides all those considered indispensable. For example, you can change the size, use the eraser, various types of pens and brushes, and also set the color. The interesting thing is that, just like Photoshop, Free Icon Maker works on layers.
7. Falco Icon Studio – ^
Falco Icon Studio is a program designed more than anything else for creating very simple icons, to be used for example as an avatar in the forums. It’s a clean and tidy program, useful for editing images and turning them into icons. It can use different image formats and allows you to change both the color and the size of the .ICO file. We would like to recommend it to those who have few pretensions, beginners, but also app developers, who are looking for something simple to make their own application icons.
8. Babya Icon Studio – ^
Babya Icon Studio is not only one of the best programs to create icons for free, but also the fastest ever: it is able to transform an image in an instant, and is also perfect for those looking for a program with an easy interface to understand. Of course it is not the top in terms of options available, but it is still appropriate to give it an opportunity, because the program is worth.
9. ImagiCon – ^
Another easy-to-use and fast- paced program : ImagiCon, a quick icon-image conversion tool. This program also supports the most popular image formats, and is characterized by an interface that is very convenient to navigate and use. It works with the drag & drop system, so it allows you to start operations by dragging your image into the software. Among the things you can do, find this: you can choose the output format, image quality and pixel size. You can even apply filters and rotate icons horizontally or vertically.
10. Image 2 Icon Converter – ^
We conclude our article with Image 2 Icon Converter : a program especially recommended for the conversion of simple images. What differentiates it from others, is the possibility of converting different images into icons simultaneously, therefore for groups.