Today, image formats play a critical role in branding and individuals' lives, with ICO and JPG among those not left behind. However, deciding between ICO vs. JPG is unnerving, given the benefits and drawbacks associated with each format.
The article reveals which file format stands out based on its similarities and differences, including file size, image quality, compression, storage, browser support, performance, structure, animation, and transparency support.
When is JPG better than ICO?
JPG images are smaller and load faster online, making them more accessible and efficient to share on websites. In comparison, ICO images are larger and load slower on webpages than JPGs, minimizing user experience and affecting website performance.
The .jpg file extension is efficient and loads promptly on websites because they are less detailed, smaller, and widely supported by most browsers, software, and programs, making it ideal for digital photography.
When is ICO better than JPG?
ICO images allow for scalability while preserving image details to ensure high resolution and high quality, while JPG images are bitmapped, making them indistinct and blurry with downward or downward scaling.
ICO files are suitable for creating desktop shortcuts to folders, files, or applications on a computer and ensuring that the icons appear professional and high-pitched.
The benefits of ICO images are extensive support, compatibility, and recognition by different apps and platforms, visually impressive at any screen resolution and size, and flexibility as they contain multiple files with varying color depths and sizes.
ICO versus JPG Table Comparison
| Element | ICO | JPG |
| Transparency | Supports alpha channel transparency | Does not support transparency |
| File Size | Larger than JPG | Smaller than ICO |
| Image Quality | Limited color support; scaled up/down; retains image res and quality - high-quality images than JPG. | Lossy JPGs delete specific image details, giving rise to lower-quality images than ICOs. |
| Performance | Larger multi-layered icons consume more bytes or bandwidth and increase loading times than JPG. | Smaller files consume fewer bytes or bandwidth and have decreased loading times than ICOs. |
| Structure | Has an Icon directory (ICONDIR) joining the image mask, XOR bitmap, a block, and the AND bitmap. | Begins with the binary value '0xFFD8' and ends with binary value '0xFFD9'. |
| Animation | Supports animation or favicons | Does not support animation or animated content |
| Storage | Larger icons or multilayer images necessitate more storage space compared to JPGs. | Smaller images necessitate less storage space compared to ICO. |
| Compression | Uses TinyPNG or PNGOUT lossless compression. | Uses lossy compression |
| Browser Support | Limited browser support compared to JPG. | Widely supported by almost all browsers than ICO. |
Differences and similarities between JPG and ICO images
ICO is a vector graphics format, while JPG is raster graphics, making it difficult to compare the features of ICO versus JPG. The two file formats significantly differ in storage, structure, transparency, animation support, browser support, compression, file size, performance, and image quality.
Transparency
ICO file formats support alpha channel transparency, whereas JPG does not. JPG does not allow webmasters and designers to incorporate transparent backgrounds into images. Non-rectangular logos and graphics of many texts hardly work well in JPG format.
On the other hand, ICO files allow developers and webmasters to add semi-transparent areas to an image, including glass-like effects, anti-aliasing, and shadows. The ICO file format supports 8 bits of transparency and icons with varied transparency levels, sizes or dimensions, and color depths.
File Size
ICO files are larger than JPG files. The ICO format consists of multiple-level, layered files or image icons of varied color depths and sizes, making it significantly larger than JPG files. Besides, JPGs are not scalable as they are raster graphics, while ICO file sizes can be downscaled or upscaled to any size.
JPEG images support a maximum resolution of 65,535 x 65,535 pixels, equating to approximately 4 gigapixels for a 1:1 aspect ratio. Conversely, ICO files can store multiple images of varying sizes and color depths, ranging from 1x1 pixels to 256x256 pixels. The smallest icon in an ICO file is 1x1 pixel, and the largest is typically 256x256 pixels.
Image Quality
ICO and JPG are regarded as high-quality and high-resolution file formats. JPG files are high-resolution images since they contain high DPI, often above 300 or more, and large pixel dimensions. For example, JPG supports an 8-bit depth for each RGB value, totaling 24-bit color.
The JPG format can record 256 (28) levels of RGB, which is 16 million colors. This includes the full RGB spectrum, making it suitable for complex graphics and photographs. On the other hand, an ICO file supports a maximum color depth of 24-bit, allowing up to 16 million colors.
The ICO file supports eight transparency bits, allowing it to generate photorealistic or highly detailed icons. It also dictates the visual quality of each icon created. As a result, while ICO and JPG have almost identical bit depths, lossy compression deletes unnecessary JPG data, lowering its file quality in return.
In contrast, while the ICO file’s color depth is limited but suitable for designing icons and favicons, the format retains all file information. It ensures high image quality compared to the JPG format. However, other file formats may be preferred for creating photorealistic and highly detailed icons instead of ICO or JPG.
Performance
JPG files are comparatively smaller compared to ICO files. ICO files are vector-based and can hold multi-layered image icons or files with varying sizes and color depths compared to raster-based or bitmapped JPG files, resulting in larger file sizes and minimal user experience.
JPG files can undergo further compression compared to contemporary file formats like ICO. The larger file sizes of ICOs are a concern when working with and storing large numbers of icons, given that it necessitates more bytes and increases image loading times compared to small-sized JPGs.
Structure
ICO and JPG can hardly compare in terms of file structure. Whereas JPG is raster-based, ICO is vector-based, allowing for the upward and downward scaling of ICO files while retaining image resolution and quality, which cannot happen with JPGs.
The JPG file’s structure comprises a sequence of divisions starting with a marker with various binary OxFFXX data. The first marker has a binary value of 'OxFFD8' and ends with a binary value of 'OxFFD9'. The makers designate the time of the JPG data or information.
In contrast, the ICO file structure has an Icon directory (ICONDIR) and ICONDIRENTRY header for each ICO file extension. An adjacent block with image bitmap data for every image file closely follows the header.
Animation
Whereas JPG does not support animated images or animation, an ICO file supports animation. It comprises icon features that enable enhanced customization of websites or computer apps that support multiple color depths and resolutions. Such features allow ICO files to be animated.
Storage
ICO files are larger than JPG files, requiring more storage space than smaller JPG files. ICO files store files or image icons for folders, files, or programs. Encrypting and storing ICO files safeguards against illegal access, preserves all data, and remains larger.
In contrast, the lossy technique deletes unnecessary JPG file data, making them significantly smaller than lossless ICO files. As a result, the compressed JPG files require fewer bytes, less bandwidth, and less storage space than the compressed ICO files.
Both file formats, JPG and ICO, can store images indefinitely when handled, processed, and stored correctly in the right storage medium, including folders, file systems, the cloud, a content delivery network, hard drives, or floppy drives.
Compression
The ICO uses lossless compression, while JPG supports lossy compression. JPG’s lossy compression method assumes block-based compression and reduces the image size by deleting some image data.
The subsampling color information reduces the original file data through re-order, Huffman Coding, and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficients. The user controls the data quality lost to attain the desired JPG image size.
On the other hand, ICO’s PNGOUT lossless compression preserves image details, making PNGOUT images larger than JPGs. Although ICO compression is unnecessary, Windows recommends compressing ICO images of 256x256 pixels as PNGs.
Browser Support
JPG is supported and used by 77.9% of popular websites and browsers. In comparison, the ICO format is only used by 0.2% of websites, yet is 0.6% popular among the top 1 million website browsers. Hence, JPG is widely supported by Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Safari, Discord, Vivaldi, and Opera.
JPG is only unsupported by Internet Explorer and other older versions. Conversely, ICO is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. Old browsers like Internet Explorer, which hardly favor scaling icons, do not support it. Safari also supports only a preview of an ICO’s file format.
Convert JPG to ICO or ICO to JPG
Convert JPG to ICO to enjoy visually attractive images and animations at varying screen sizes and resolution levels without losing quality. Also, you can create flexible and multiple images with unlimited color depths. Convertjack helps you convert JPG to ICO easily.
In contrast, an ICO to JPG converter called Convertjack is easily accessible online and effortlessly converts ICO to JPG. JPG files use a highly lossy compression technique to significantly reduce file sizes, minimize bandwidth, reduce image loading times, and increase user experience with high-res images.