Icon For Mac Icns
Posted : admin On 1/31/2022Filename extension | |
---|---|
Type code | icns |
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.apple.icns |
Developed by | Apple Inc. |
Type of format |
The Apple Icon Image format is the icon format used in Apple Inc.'s macOS. It supports icons of 16 × 16, 32 × 32, 48 × 48, 128 × 128, 256 × 256, 512 × 512 points at 1x and 2x scale, with both 1- and 8-bitalpha channels and multiple image states (example: open and closed folders). The fixed-size icons can be scaled by the operating system and displayed at any intermediate size.
File structure[edit]
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- On your Mac, select the file or folder whose icon you want to use, then choose File Get Info. At the top of the Info window, click the icon, then choose Edit Copy. Select the other file or folder, then choose File Get Info. Click the icon, then choose Edit Paste.
- You can’t include two different app icons for one app, and the macOS 11 app icon style looks fine on a Mac running Catalina or earlier. Design a beautiful icon that clearly represents your app. Combine an engaging design with an artistic interpretation of your app’s purpose that people can.
The file format consists of an 8 byte header, followed by any number of icons.

Inside the Resources folder will be the ICNS file which gives the app its generic icon. The file will be named “applet.icns” for AppleScript apps, and “AutomatorApplet.icns” for Automator apps. Simply rename your new icon’s ICNS file so that it has the appropriate name, and replace the existing one.
Header[edit]
Offset | Size | Purpose |
---|---|---|
0 | 4 | Magic literal, must be 'icns' (0x69, 0x63, 0x6e, 0x73) |
4 | 4 | Length of file, in bytes, msb first |
Icon data[edit]
Offset | Size | Purpose |
---|---|---|
0 | 4 | Icon type, see OSType below. |
4 | 4 | Length of data, in bytes (including type and length), msb first |
8 | Variable | Icon data |
Compression[edit]
lead value | tail bytes | result uncompressed |
---|---|---|
0…127 | 1…128 | 1…128 bytes |
128…255 | 1 byte | 3…130 copies |
Over time the format has been improved and there is support for compression of some parts of the pixel data. The 32-bit ('is32', 'il32', 'ih32','it32') and ARGB ('ic04', 'ic05') pixel data are often compressed (per channel) with a format similar to PackBits.[1]Some sources mentioned that the OS supports both compressed or uncompressed data chunks.
The following pseudocode decompresses the data:
Example: 02 01 02 02 80 03 81 04 82 05
should decompress to 01 02 02 03 03 03 04 04 04 04 05 05 05 05 05
Icon types[edit]
OSType | Length (bytes) | Size (pixels) | Supported OS Version | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
ICON | 128 | 32 | 1.0 | 32×32 1-bit mono icon |
ICN# | 256 | 32 | 6.0 | 32×32 1-bit mono icon with 1-bit mask |
icm# | 48 | 16 | 6.0 | 16×12 1 bit mono icon with 1-bit mask |
icm4 | 96 | 16 | 7.0 | 16×12 4 bit icon |
icm8 | 192 | 16 | 7.0 | 16×12 8 bit icon |
ics# | 64 (32 img + 32 mask) | 16 | 6.0 | 16×16 1-bit mask |
ics4 | 128 | 16 | 7.0 | 16×16 4-bit icon |
ics8 | 256 | 16 | 7.0 | 16x16 8 bit icon |
is32 | varies (768) | 16 | 8.5 | 16×16 24-bit icon |
s8mk | 256 | 16 | 8.5 | 16x16 8-bit mask |
icl4 | 512 | 32 | 7.0 | 32×32 4-bit icon |
icl8 | 1,024 | 32 | 7.0 | 32×32 8-bit icon |
il32 | varies (3,072) | 32 | 8.5 | 32x32 24-bit icon |
l8mk | 1,024 | 32 | 8.5 | 32×32 8-bit mask |
ich# | 288 | 48 | 8.5 | 48×48 1-bit mask |
ich4 | 1,152 | 48 | 8.5 | 48×48 4-bit icon |
ich8 | 2,304 | 48 | 8.5 | 48×48 8-bit icon |
ih32 | varies (6,912) | 48 | 8.5 | 48×48 24-bit icon |
h8mk | 2,304 | 48 | 8.5 | 48×48 8-bit mask |
it32 | varies (49,152) | 128 | 10.0 | 128×128 24-bit icon |
t8mk | 16,384 | 128 | 10.0 | 128×128 8-bit mask |
icp4 | varies | 16 | 10.7 | 16x16 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
icp5 | varies | 32 | 10.7 | 32x32 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
icp6 | varies | 64 | 10.7 | 64x64 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic07 | varies | 128 | 10.7 | 128x128 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic08 | varies | 256 | 10.5 | 256×256 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic09 | varies | 512 | 10.5 | 512×512 icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic10 | varies | 1024 | 10.7 | 1024×1024 in 10.7 (or [email protected] 'retina' in 10.8) icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic11 | varies | 32 | 10.8 | [email protected] 'retina' icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic12 | varies | 64 | 10.8 | [email protected] 'retina' icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic13 | varies | 256 | 10.8 | [email protected] 'retina' icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic14 | varies | 512 | 10.8 | [email protected] 'retina' icon in JPEG 2000 or PNG format |
ic04 | varies | 16 | 16x16 ARGB | |
ic05 | varies | 32 | 32x32 ARGB | |
icsB | varies | 36 | 36x36 | |
icsb | varies | 18 | 18x18 |
- the values inside the brackets () in the length column is the uncompressed length.
- the ARGB format consists of the ascii values for 'ARGB' and the four compressed channels tightly packed
Other types[edit]
OSType | Length (bytes) | Description |
---|---|---|
'TOC ' | varies | 'Table of Contents' a list of all image types in the file, and their sizes (added in Mac OS X 10.7) |
'icnV' | 4 | 4-byte big endian float - equal to the bundle version number of Icon Composer.app that created to icon |
'name' | Unknown | |
'info' | 259 | Info binary plist. Usage unknown |
Support[edit]
Various image viewers can load *.icns files, and free and open source converters from or to PNG also exist.[2][3]GTK+ can load *.icns resources since 2007.[4] Other tools supporting the format include the Apple Icon Composer and icns Browser, The Iconfactory, and IconBuilder.
MacOS[clarification needed] offers the built-in iconutil
command line tool to pack and unpack *.icns files.
External links[edit]
- IconFamily – Open source Objective C class to read and write Apple icns files
- osxiconutils - Command line tools to work with Apple icns files
See also[edit]
- ICO format on Windows
- X PixMap format for X11
References[edit]
- ^Macintosh Icons
- ^'libicns'. SourceForge project icns. 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^'png2icns'. Moin Uddin. 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
- ^Lyonel Vincent (2007). 'Mac OS X icons for GTK+'. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
Did you boot up your Mac and notice that the desktop is missing a few icons or documents? It's quite puzzling because you're certain you didn't delete them, and they were on the screen the last time you used your Mac. So, what do you do to recover the missing desktop icons?
Icon For Mac Icons App
For a start, you can reboot the Mac. If the desktops icons still aren't showing, try booting the Mac into Safe Mode. And if the affected Mac has multiple users, check if you're logged into the correct account. Should the Mac desktop icon(s) remain nowhere to be found after trying these preliminary fixes, proceed to the section below. We explain why that happens and list 4 troubleshooting solutions that could help.
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Read More1. Force Quit Finder
Finder is an integral component of the Macintosh operating system. When Finder malfunctions, you can as well expect other core system functionalities and apps to malfunction. We found a couple of Mac users who were able to restore missing desktop icons by force-quitting Finder during research. Yes, the solution could be that simple.
Finder is always running on Mac, so you can't exactly close it. However, you can instruct the OS to relaunch/refresh Finder, thereby fixing issues causing it to malfunction. Consequently, this might also restore icons that weren't showing on the desktop. Here's how to get it done.
Step 1: Tap the Apple logo on the menu bar.
Step 2: Next, select Force Quit.
That will immediately launch the 'Force Quick Application' window.
Quick Tip: You can swiftly launch the 'Force Quit Application' window within any app by pressing the Command + Option + Escape keys.Step 3: Now, select Finder from the list of apps and tap the Relaunch button.
Step 4: Click Relaunch on the warning prompt.
That will close & reopen Finder and, likewise, refresh all the app icons and files on the desktop. Check if the missing icons have been restored.
2. Modify Finder Preferences
If your Mac desktop icons are still missing after relaunching Finder, proceed to modify Finder to include items from the hard disk and other connected servers on the desktop. This might help to restore icons that aren't showing on the desktop.
Step 1: Tap Finder on the menu bar and select Preferences.
Step 2: In the General section, check the Hard disks and Connected servers boxes.
Step 3: Close the Finder Preferences window and check if the missing icons have been restored to the desktop.
3. Unhide All Desktop Icons
This is another proven solution that we discovered during the course of research. As recommended by Apple, you can fix the Mac desktop icon not showing issue by running a specific command line in the Terminal app. What the command does is to unhide all desktop icons.
Step 1: From the desktop, click Go on the menu bar and select Utilities.
Icon For Mac Icons Desktop
Step 2: Double-click on Terminal to launch the app console.
Step 3: Paste the code below into the Terminal console and hit Enter on your keyboard.
Step 4: Close Terminal and check if the missing icons have reappeared.
4. Check iCloud Drive
On Mac, iCloud Drive provides the option to back up and sync files/icons present on the desktop. If you have 'Desktop and Documents Folders' configured in your Mac's iCloud Drive settings, desktop icons may go missing when deleted on iCloud.com or another device (Mac, iPhone, or iPad) that has access to your iCloud Drive account.
To restore the icons, you'd have to restore them from iCloud Drive. Here's how.
Step 1: Sign in to iCloud on your preferred browser.
Step 2: Select iCloud Drive on the iCloud homepage.
Step 3: At the bottom-right corner of the iCloud Drive dashboard, tap Recently Deleted.
That will open a recycle bin of some sort where you'll find desktop icons and files that might have been accidentally deleted. Proceed to the next step to restore the icon.
Note: If you can't find the missing icon(s) in theRecently Deleted folder, there's a possibility that it has been moved toanother folder within or outside the Desktop folder in iCloud Drive.Step 4: If you find the missing desktop icon/file in the Recently Deleted folder, select it and click Recover.
If the item was deleted from your iCloud Drive's Desktop folder, it'll be immediately restored to the same location and you should see the icon on your Mac's desktop within seconds.
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Read MoreGet Them Back Home
Finally, if you know the name of the missing icon, we recommend searching for the file in the Bin. You might have deleted it from the desktop by accident. And if you've emptied your Mac's Bin, you don't have to worry. Refer to our guide to recover files from an emptied trash.
Next up:Are FaceTime calls from your iPhone or iPad not coming through on your Mac? Refer to the solutions in the guide linked below to get the issue fixed.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextTop 7 Fixes for FaceTime Calls Not Coming Through on MacAlso See
Download Icons For Mac
#desktop #macbookDid You Know
Apple Watch can be used to unlock your Mac.