How does Windows decide which icon format to display when showing an exe's icon in Windows Explorer?

Posted by Malcolm on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Malcolm
Published on 2010-03-09T00:24:32Z Indexed on 2010/03/09 0:51 UTC
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How does Windows decide which icon format to display when showing an exe's icon in Windows Explorer?

Problem: When we look at our icon file and exe with embedded icon file in various Windows Explorer file views, the icon file is displayed in a higher quality mode than the icon displayed for our executable even though the icon in our executable contains the exact same icon. Our exe's icon has jaggier edges which leads me to believe that Windows Explorer may be trying to upsize a lower resolution icon rather than picking an icon appropriate for the actual display size.

In a multi-format icon file, is there a specific order we should use for positioning each icon format?

For example, we have an icon file with icons in the following formats: - 16x16 - 32x32 - 48x48 - 64x64 - 128x128 - 256x256

We are testing the appearance of our exe's icon using Windows Explorer under Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Any suggestions appreciated.

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