Favicon term explained

A Favicon (abbr. from FAVorite ICON — favorites icon, which received its name from the corresponding directory in Microsoft Internet Explorer) is a small site icon (icon) in a special format that is displayed by browsers before the page URL in the address bar, on the taskbar, in the visitor log, on next to a tab, or other interface elements. In addition, a separate search system displays the favicons in the search results. Use a favicon improves the awareness of visitors and, consequently, to increase CTR.

In addition to the files .ico is commonly used for creating icon files with the file extension .png, .gif, .jpeg, .svg or even .gif animation, but it should be remembered that only the files .ico is a truly cross-platform and are recognized by most browsers that are installed on both mobile and desktop computers.

Format .ico is a raster graphics format in which the image is formed by pixels, and in this it is similar to a known format bmp, but in contrast contains more masking the background image, allowing you to achieve full transparency of the picture.