# How are those little images in a browser's address bar called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050 "2005-05-16T12:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/1 "2005-05-16T12:01:11Z")
I encountered this when I started using Firefox, although I think other browsers include this feature as well: When you enter a web site, there’s the chance of a tiny little picture, for example the corporate logo, being displayed in the address bar next to the URL. How are those images called? How can I include one in my own pages? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/2 "2005-05-16T12:05:37Z")
Browsers impliment this “feature” by automatically requesting the file /favicon.ico from the server. This is one of Microsoft’s brilliant ideas that helpfuly fills the error logs of people who run sites without such a file present. It was later copied by other browsers. \ Anyway, the image has to be 16x16 pixels, and in Microsoft’s .ico image format. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/3 "2005-05-16T12:17:40Z")
And it’s called a “Favicon”, if you hadn’t worked it out from **friedo** ’s post. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/4 "2005-05-16T15:46:54Z")
Can I add these to links in my favorites/toolbar links that don’t have one? I am using Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/5 "2005-05-17T23:15:03Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I encountered this when I started using Firefox, although I think other browsers include this feature as well: When you enter a web site, there’s the chance of a tiny little picture, for example the corporate logo, being displayed in the address bar next to the URL. How are those images called? How can I include one in my own pages? I’ve been having fun with these myself. Here are 2 places I’ve found that will make them. [FavIcon From Pics](http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/) - This place makes favicons from pictures you choose. [http://www.favicon.co.uk/](http://www.favicon.co.uk/) - This place allows you to draw ones yourself. In each case, you download the finished icon, then upload it to your server. You have to put a bit of code in your html for it to show up. It generally won’t show up until you’ve added a page to your bookmark, click off the page, then go back. At least, they didn’t for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/6 "2005-05-18T03:38:09Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Browsers impliment this “feature” by automatically requesting the file /favicon.ico from the server. This is one of Microsoft’s brilliant ideas that helpfuly fills the error logs of people who run sites without such a file present. It was later copied by other browsers. I think that’s just IE. Mozilla (and browsers based on it) only show the icon if reference to it is made in the HTML of the page itself, something like: \ > [@](#): > > Anyway, the image has to be 16x16 pixels, and in Microsoft’s .ico image format. Again, for IE yes, but Mozilla can use any image format. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-those-little-images-in-a-browsers-address-bar-called/304050/7 "2005-05-18T11:40:26Z")
All right, I create a pic, convert it into .ico ('coz I want my pages to work with Internet Explorer as well), upload and insert some HTML in the header of the source code. It works! Thanks, guys!