Custom App Icons | Electron Forge

Custom App Icons

The purpose of this guide is to walk through the process of generating and setting an app icon, as well as setting installer and setup icons.

Generating an icon

Generating your icon can be done using various conversion tools found online. It is recommended to start with a 1024x1024px image before converting it to the formats required by each platform.

Supporting higher pixel densities

On platforms that have high-DPI support (such as Apple Retina displays), you can append @2x after the image's base filename to mark it as a high resolution image. For example, if icon.png is a normal image with standard resolution, then icon@2x.png will be treated as a high resolution image that has double the DPI intensity.

If you want to support different displays with different DPI densities at the same time, you can put images with different sizes in the same folder and use the filename without DPI suffixes. For example:

images/
├── icon.png
├── icon@2x.png
└── icon@3x.png

The following suffixes for DPI are also supported:

@1x, @1.25x, @1.33x, @1.4x, @1.5x, @1.8x, @2x, @2.5x, @3x, @4x, and @5x.

Supported formats

The recommended file formats and icon sizes for each platform are as follows:

Operating system

Format

Size / notes

macOS

.icns (or .icon)

Use a 1024x1024 source image. Keep an .icns file for compatibility, and add an Icon Composer .icon file for macOS 26+.

Windows

.ico

256x256 pixels

Linux

.png

512x512 pixels

On Windows, ensure that your .ico file is exported from an image editor that supports the format (such as GIMP). Renaming a .png file into .ico will result in a Fatal error: Unable to set icon error.

@electron/packager supports macOS Icon Composer files as of @electron/packager v18.4.0. To support both macOS 26+ and earlier releases, provide both an .icns file and a .icon file.

Setting the app icon

Windows

Configuring the path to your icon can be done in your Forge configuration.

forge.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ...
  packagerConfig: {
    icon: '/path/to/icon' // no file extension required
  }
  // ...
};

When you provide a single icon path, Electron Packager will automatically add the correct platform extension, so appending .ico here is not required.

After the config has been updated, build your project to generate your executable with the Make command.

macOS

If you only need the traditional macOS icon format, you can continue to provide a single icon path in packagerConfig:

forge.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ...
  packagerConfig: {
    icon: '/path/to/icon' // .icns will be inferred
  }
  // ...
};

If you need one configuration that supports both macOS 26+ and earlier macOS releases, provide both an .icns file and an .icon file:

forge.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ...
  packagerConfig: {
    icon: [
      '/path/to/icon.icns',
      '/path/to/icon.icon'
    ]
  }
  // ...
};

Electron Packager will use the .icns file on macOS versions earlier than 26, and the .icon file on macOS 26 and later.

Packaging an .icon file currently requires macOS 26 or later and Xcode 26 or later because Electron Packager uses Apple's actool tool to compile the Icon Composer asset.

When you provide multiple macOS icon files, include the file extensions explicitly so Packager can distinguish the .icns and .icon inputs.

After the config has been updated, build your project to generate your executable with the Make command.

Linux

Configuring the path to your icon must be done in both package.json as well as in Electron's main process.

forge.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ...
  makers: \[
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-deb',
        config: {
          options: {
            icon: '/path/to/icon.png'
          }
      }
    }
  ]
  // ...
}

The icon must be additionally loaded when instantiating your BrowserWindow.

main.js (Main Process)

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

const win = new BrowserWindow({
  // ...
  icon: '/path/to/icon.png'
})

Once the path to the icon has been configured, build your project to generate your executable with npm run make.

Configuring installer icons

Installers usually have icons! Don't forget to configure those in the Maker-specific config within the Makers section of your Forge configuration.

Here is an example of how that can be done:

// forge.config.js
module.exports = {
  // ...
  makers: [
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-squirrel',
      config: {
        // An URL to an ICO file to use as the application icon (displayed in Control Panel > Programs and Features).
        iconUrl: 'https://url/to/icon.ico',
        // The ICO file to use as the icon for the generated Setup.exe
        setupIcon: '/path/to/icon.ico'
      }
    },
    {
      // Path to a single image that will act as icon for the application
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-deb',
      config: {
        options: {
          icon: '/path/to/icon.png'
        }
      }
    },
    {
      // Path to the icon to use for the app in the DMG window
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-dmg',
      config: {
        icon: '/path/to/icon.icns'
      }
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-wix',
      config: {
        icon: '/path/to/icon.ico'
      }
    }
  ]
  // ...
};

Once again, once you are done configuring your icons, don't forget to build your project with the Make command.

Troubleshooting

Operating systems have an icon cache. Resetting the cache is recommended if the icon is not updated or still uses the default one.

Refreshing the icon cache (Windows)

Windows caches all application icons in a hidden Icon Cache Database. If your Electron app's icon is not showing up, you may need to rebuild this cache. To invalidate the cache, use the system ie4uinit.exe utility:

ie4uinit.exe -show

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PL/B Language Development and Support

Custom App Icons

Generating an icon

Supporting higher pixel densities

Supported formats

Setting the app icon

Windows

macOS

Linux

Configuring installer icons

Troubleshooting

Refreshing the icon cache (Windows)