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favicon

A favicon, short for favorite icon, is a small image associated with a website. Browsers display favicons in tabs, bookmarks, address bars, and other UI elements, helping users recognize and locate sites quickly.

Favicons emerged in the late 1990s as browsers introduced icons for bookmarks. Netscape popularized the idea,

Common formats include ICO, PNG, and SVG. ICO works for legacy use, while PNG and SVG offer

Implementation usually places the favicon at the site root and references it in the page head. Example:

Best practices include providing multiple formats and sizes, using square images, testing across browsers and devices,

and
Internet
Explorer
extended
it
with
the
favicon.ico
file
at
the
site
root.
Over
time,
support
spread
across
browsers,
and
conventions
were
standardized
by
vendors
and
the
W3C.
scalable
color
options.
Typical
sizes
include
16×16
and
32×32
pixels,
with
larger
sizes
used
for
Apple
touch
icons
and
other
devices.
Modern
sites
often
deliver
multiple
icons
via
HTML
link
tags.
<link
rel='icon'
href='/favicon.ico'
type='image/x-icon'>;
<link
rel='icon'
href='/favicon.png'
sizes='any'
type='image/png'>.
For
Apple
devices,
an
apple-touch-icon
file
is
supplied:
<link
rel='apple-touch-icon'
href='/apple-touch-icon.png'>.
Windows
tiles
may
use
msapplication-TileImage.
and
using
cache-busting
methods
when
updating
icons.
A
clear,
simple
symbol
aids
recognition,
while
descriptive
file
names
and
proper
accessibility
considerations
support
consistent
branding.