Input file
ICO
- Full Name: Icon Format
- Developer: N/A
Output file
XCF
- Full Name: GIMP XCF Bitmap Image Format
- Developer: GIMP
What is ICO file?
ICO (Icon File) is a .ico file format used by Microsoft Windows OS. It is the file format for saving images used in various “icons”on Windows based computers. An icon is a small graphic image, usually with text indicating what the file contains such as a home folder or a digital camera. Icons are used to enhance the user experience by giving users quick and easy access to particular functions. [ ⏩ ] ICO file extension
What is XCF file?
An XCF file is a raster graphics image created with GIMP, an image manipulation application based on the GNU Image Manipulation Program. XCF stands for eXperimental Computing Facility, which was part of the original name for the GIMP software. XCF files store all of the layers and edits to an image. These files do not utilize any compression and preserve all of the image's color depths, brushes, fonts, paths, layers, transparency, and other elements. [ ⏩ ] XCF file extension
Software, that you can use to convert
How to convert the file from ICO to XCF?
To successfully convert the ICO file to XCF, you should install one of the applications from the list. After installing the software, open the program and select the file you want to convert (file-name.ICO). The next step is to select the target format from the list, in this case XCF (usually converters allow you to convert to several different formats, so check out their features - maybe one of the available formats will suit you more than XCF).
What is a file conversion?
A data conversion is normally an automated process to some extent. The effect of the operation of one program is automatically the input product of another application. If that does not happen we need to help the process a little bit and convert the file on our own, e.g. ICO to XCF. To obtain a matched structure of the data, it is necessary to use an appropriate converter.
Program for converting ICO files to XCF files is a kind of a "binary code translator" compensating for the differences in the code or translating it in such a way so that another application could use it. For us, as users, the visible change will be only another file extension. (After converting the file, it will be the extension XCF, while before this step we had the ICO file). For the programs, the difference is on a much higher level – either the application will be able to open a new XCF file, or not.