IconEdit - Font creator and Image converter

IconEdit is a pixel based font and image creator and editor.
Convert images to symbols in a color resolution that fits your display.
Convert Windows vector fonts to raster fonts and save the font as C-source code.

IconEdit converts vector fonts and images to C-source code

Runs on Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 with 1024x600 or bigger full color screen.

No installation on your PC: Just fetch and unpack the zip file and you are ready to go.

Download the zip file for IconEdit Go to download of the IconEdit zip file. Product version: 8.3.55 - 18 March 2024



Convert fonts and images to C-source code Fonts and Symbols as C-source code.

Included European pre-defined fonts The included European Font Library.

Asian pre-defined fonts The Asian Font Library.

Save time - Start working before you buy a license Fast Project Start Without a License.

Many Alphabets in a Text Optimized Font International Fonts for multiple languages.

ROM Optimized Fonts ROM Optimized Fonts and Symbols.

Batch Text Button Batch command-line options.

Asiatic Text Optimized Font Support for Middle Eastern and South Asian fonts.

Asiatic Text Support The C string pre-processor for Emoji and Asian texts.

Graphic drawing and image conversion Graphic drawing, Screen Previews, and Image conversion.

ROM Optimized Characters and Images Color Optimization of Characters and Symbols.

HowTo demo button How to make C-source code fonts in 2 minutes or less.



What is IconEdit

IconEdit is a pixel based font and image creator and editor, also known as a raster font designer or a bitmap font tool. IconEdit can save pixel based characters, screen previews, and symbols in black and white, grey tone, full color, or semi-transparent color as C-source code.

Convert vector fonts to C-source code bitmap fonts

And Why use IconEdit ?

Computers and smart-phones use vector fonts that can be converted to any size on the display. This conversion takes a lot of computer power and code space. IconEdit can do this conversion for an embedded system on a computer, so the embedded system only has to display texts with a pixel font, making the embedded code much smaller and the display faster.

Fast and easy C-source code font generation from Windows fonts


Start IconEdit:

IconEdit start dialog box for fonts and symbols

Input height, width, color type, and the name of the target font.


Choose Master Font from Windows vector fonts or one of the many predefined pixel fonts that comes with the IconEdit European Font Library.

If you choose a Windows font and set character height, then adjust line thickness and character width:

Master font setup for vector fonts.


Create a new basic font and add necessary languages in the tick boxes:

C-source code raster fonts with Latin English and Cyrillic Bulgarian

Add languages you need in the tick boxes and the necessary characters are added automatically.

Green languages are the chosen languages, white are already included languages, and yellow is the presently selected language.

Save as C-source code.

Many Alphabets in a Text Optimized Font More about International Fonts for multiple languages.



Fast project start, start designing and saving previews at once

Design previews with the target screen color and pixel resolution:

Screen design preview Vertical Speed

Design can be saved in several standard Windows image formats or as project files.

Collect all your Font and Symbol Designs in One or more Project Files. Each designer has his/her own project file and a central work group member collects all the projects and converts them to C-source files:

Project mode with many users and only one license

Advantages of project files:

  • Have the full graphic, text, and font handling functionality of IconEdit.
  • All fonts, symbols, and texts for each design collected in one file.
  • Save and exchange data in the license-free project file format.
  • Start designing before you have a license number.

Save time - Start working before you buy a license More about the Fast Start and Project Files.



Create ROM Optimized Pixel Fonts from text strings in a few steps


Write your texts in C strings as 8-bit classic, 16-bit Unicode, or 32-bit Unicode characters in old or new C format:

Latin c-code text string

Open the text file with IconEdit, or just drag and drop it. Icon Edit finds the text in the strings and uses the chosen Windows vector font or library font to create a pixel font:

Latin c-source text string as raster font

The number above each font character is the Unicode code-point.

Save the pixel font as C-source code.

And this is how it will look on your display:

Latin c-code text string display

This is the result automatically generated by IconEdit.

ROM Optimized Fonts More about ROM Optimized Fonts and Symbols.



Extensive set of drawing tools for creation of symbols and icons

Large set of drawing and manipulation tools:

Drawing tools for different shapes Drawing tools for different functions Drawing tools for moving, mirroring and turning the symbol Drawing tools for character position, spacing and redraw Help tools for glyph size, alignment, and display

Support for animation:

Animated wait circle made in IconEdit

Virtual keyboard for writing any Unicode character and fitting text to a frame:

Use Virtual Keyboard to squeeze text

Configurable working palettes:

Four-bit Palette with 16 standard colors

The working palette is saved with the symbols for later use.

Graphic drawing and image conversion More about Graphic drawing and image conversion.



Design your screen look and virtuel instruments directly in IconEdit

Choose the same color mode as your screen. Draw scales and place text with the library font to get exactly the same look as on your target display:

Screen with virtual instrument in use

IconEdit can save your design as C-source code, or in several different Windows image formats for evaluation of the look.

Graphic drawing and screen design More about Graphic screen design.



Reduce memory footprint with color mode change

Choose between 18 different color modes to find your optimum:

Falcon image in different color modes 24, 8, and 4 bpp

IconEdit can change any color mode to any other color mode simply by selecting a new color mode.

ROM Optimized Characters and Images More about Color Optimization of Characters and Symbols.



Convert many Input Formats to the same font and symbol C-source code format

Import Windows fonts or texts and images from many sources and convert them all to the same general C-source data format with IconEdit.

Many font, text, and image input formats One C-source output format

All formats are converted to the same general C-source code format:

2-bit intensity level C-source code character

This is a Greek letter saved as 2 bit per pixel intensity level for diaplay as anti-aliased character.

Convert fonts and images to C-source code More about Fonts and Symbols as C-source code.



Asiatic language and text support for fonts in IconEdit


South Asian alphabets use combinations of basic characters and diacritics that has to be combined before the text can be written. This is how a Devanagari text is stored in the C string, and how it should look on the display:

C-source String: Asian texts as written

Display of Text: Asian texts as displayed

The glyphs are re-arranged and combined into new characters automatically by IconEdit.


Middle Eastern text is stored in a C-string from left to right as basic characters, but displayed from right to left with presentation characters. This is how an Arabic text is stored in the C string, and how it should look on the display:

Arabic texts as writtenArabic texts as displayed

The text is written as basic characters and displayed as presentation characters that change shape to fit their neighbors. This is done automatically by IconEdit

Asiatic Text Optimized Font More about Middle Eastern and South Asian fonts.


Asiatic text modification support for diacritics and bi-directional texts


Write your texts in C strings as 16-bit Unicode:

Thai c-code text string


Open the text file with IconEdit, or just drag and drop it. Icon Edit finds and makes the combined characters, then uses the chosen Windows vector font to create a pixel font:

Thai text string as font


Save the pixel font and the modified text strings as C-source:

Thai c-source text string


Use the font together with the modified strings on your display:

Thai c-source code text string

This is the result automatically generated by IconEdit.

Asiatic Text Support More about the C string pre-processor for Emoji and Asian texts.



Pick any Unicode Character and convert it to UTF-8, UTF-16, or UTF-32

The character picker lets you pick any Unicode character with the mouse and copy it to the Clip-Board for use in your texts or fonts

Convert Unicode to and from UTF-8

Converting Unicode texts to UTF-8 makes it possible to have Unicode text support in classic 8-bit compilers.

UTF-8 Text Unicode character picker. UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32 Text String converter.



Easy project management with batch commands

Many of the IconEdit functions can also be done from the command line.

Include IconEdit command lines in your project management batch files to update fonts and texts together with other updates:

  • Make text optimized fonts from a master font.
  • Modify optimized fonts with new texts.
  • Bulk convert images to C-source code format.
  • Convert classic 8-bit texts to Unicode and make Unicode fonts.
  • Create combined characters for Asiatic languages and modify texts.
  • Make Arabic presentation characters and modify texts for them.
  • Modify Middle Eastern texts for left-to-right displays.
  • Convert texts to and from UTF-8

Batch Text Button More about the batch command-line options.



Font Library Included in the IconEdit package, ready for compiling

IconEdit comes with a Black&White and Grey Intensity Level Anti-Alias C-source code font library for European and Middle-Eastern languages, included is also a collection of normaly used Unicode symbols, emoji, and large numbers in many shapes.

Use the Fonts in the included European & Middle Eastern Font Library as they are or as template for optimized fonts:

Included European & Middle Eastern Font Library

The font library for European and Middle-Eastern languages has Black&White and Grey Intensity Level anti-alias C-source code fonts for 16-bit Unicode and classic 8-bit ISO-8859 and Windows character encoding.

Use the fonts with the RAMTEX device driver library directly for fast and easy project start.

Included pre-defined fonts More about the included European Font Library.



Try it - Download IconEdit

The zip file includes the full IconEdit product, including a font library, examples, and pdf manuals. IconEdit runs in Color or B&W Demo Mode until a valid license key has been entered.

All IconEdit features are available in Demo Mode, EXCEPT that C-source code can not be generated. Design results created in Demo Mode can still be saved in an IconEdit project file, so you may use Demo Mode to get started. After a valid license key is entered the fonts and symbols in IconEdit project file, and the font library, can be saved as C-source for use in a GUI compilation project

Download the IconEdit Quick Guide manual The manual is common for IconEdit B&W and IconEdit Color licenses. This manual is included in the IconEdit zip file download above.

IconEdit Color - IconEdit B&W

IconEdit can be purchased in two versions. The Black and White version has a reduced feature set optimized for use with B&W library products.

IconEdit B&W license

  • All Graphic editing features for B&W
  • All language features
  • All 16-bit & 32-bit Unicode and 8-bit code page features
  • All text conversion features
  • Full B&W symbol support
  • B&W image import
  • Generate C-source code fonts from the command line

IconEdit Color license

  • All Graphic editing features
  • All language features
  • All 16-bit & 32-bit Unicode and 8-bit code page features
  • All text conversion features
  • Full B&W symbol support
  • Full Grey symbol support
    • 8, 4, 2-bits-per-pixel Grey symbols
    • 8, 4, 2-bits-per-pixel Grey palette symbols
  • Alpha Level Anti-Alias Characters both Windows ClearType and Extra Smooth Anti Alias
  • 8, 4, 2, 1-bits-per-pixel intensity level for color rendering
  • Full RGB symbol support
    • 24, 16, 8-bits-per-pixel RGB symbols
    • 8, 4, 2-bits-per-pixel RGB palette symbols
    • 32-bits-per-pixel semi-transparent symbols (alpha channel)
  • Palette view as symbol palette or working palette
  • Conversion between color formats
  • Color and B&W image import
  • Generate C-source code fonts from the command line