Personalizing the icons of your shortcuts can be a great way to make your PC look better. You can replace the icons for those boring folders you’ve been looking at for so many years, and others will admire how well-organized and good-looking your desktop is. However, where do you find beautiful icon sets? There are a staggering number of websites that offer free icons for download, but many of them are rather dodgy. To help you, I checked out several locations, and now I’d like to share the best websites where you can download icons safely and for free:

1. DeviantArt

Deviantart.com is the largest online art community, with over 47 million registered members, both artists and art enthusiasts. It has a large number of beautiful and well-crafted icons from artists all over the world. These include (free) desktop icons and folder icons for Windows 10 and Windows 11. And the community constantly adds new content, so I’m sure you can find something that suits you.

Icons on the deviantart.com website

2. IconArchive

IconArchive.com is one of my favorite sources for icons. They have over 750,000 icons, most of them look great, and many are free even for commercial use. They also offer sets that group icons with the same style for a uniform look. All you have to do is type what kind of icon you want in the search bar.

Free custom icons on iconarchive.com

With a bit of patience, you’ll surely find the exact custom icons you want for Windows 10 or Windows 11.

3. FreeImages

FreeImages.com is another reliable source where you can find great desktop icons and not only. All you have to do is type the keywords that describe the Windows icons you want or browse through the available icon packs and download the ones you want.

Free desktop icons on findicons.com

4. DryIcons.com

Dryicons.com features one of the largest collections of unique, professionally designed icons. They offer over 6700 icons and vector graphics with free, regular, or extended licenses for a great variety of styles, themes, and colors.

Free icons on the dryicons.com website

Check it out, and you might find the free desktop icons you were looking for.

5. iconmonstr

iconmonstr.com is a little bit different from other websites. First, they offer a large number of icons, and they are all black and white. You can use them as icons on your desktop, on your websites, or as graphics in your presentations for a greater visual impact. Secondly, they offer all their icons in the .svg, .eps, .psd, and .png formats. This can be inconvenient, as it means you have to convert them to the .ico format to use them as file icons or folder icons for your Windows PC.

B&W icons on the iconmonstr.com website

6. Material Design icons from Google

If you like Android and its icons, Google offers them all on its Material Design website. They are all simple and follow Google’s guidelines for simplicity and usability.

You can get any of the Google icons you like, but take notice that they were designed to be used on Android, iOS, and the web, so they are available only in .png and .svg formats. Hence, if you want to use them in Windows 11 or Windows 10, you must first convert the icons you download into the .ico format.

The icons page from the Google Material Design website

7. GraphicBurger

GraphicBurger.com is a great place if you want to download very high-quality, pixel-perfect icons. It is run by a Romanian designer (Raul Taciu), and all the icons and other design resources he offers are free to use by anyone. However, you must know that icons are available in .png, .svg, .eps, and Sketch formats, so you need to convert them to the .ico file format if you want to use them in Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Various free icons on the graphicburger.com website

8. Icons8

Last but not least, there’s Icons8. This website offers a huge library of graphics, including icons, illustrations, photos, and more. And its free icons collection is, to put it mildly, extensive. There are all kinds of styles and categories to choose from, so you’ll definitely find the custom desktop icons you want for your Windows PC. However, just like many other similar websites, you should know that free icons can be downloaded in .png, .svg, and other file formats, but not as .ico files. This means that you’ll have to convert them to .ico before being able to use them as folder icons, shortcut icons, or file icons.

Custom icons available on the icons8.com website

How to convert images to ICO files and how to change the icons of your shortcuts and folders

Many websites offer .png or .svg files commonly used for icons shown on websites, presentations, or illustrations. However, if you want to use them as icons for the folders or files on your Windows computer, you’ll have to convert them to the ICO file format. While that’s not a complicated thing to do, if you need help, you’ll find two easy methods described in this article: 2 ways to convert PNG, SVG, and JPG files to ICO files in Windows.

Changing the icons of your shortcuts and folders is a simple procedure, and it should not take long. But, if you do not know how to do it, read this guide: How to change a shortcut icon in Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Do you know any other great websites for downloading Windows icons?

The websites I presented are reliable sources where you can find plenty of beautiful icons. I’m sure that in only a couple of minutes, you will find some good-looking icon sets that help you transform the looks of your Windows desktop. If you know other great sources for free desktop icons, please share them in the comments section below.