How to Change icon for file type on Windows 10

The name and extension of files, as well as the icon that represents them, are used to identify them in Windows 10. The icon serves as a means of visual identification. If the folder view for a folder is set to small icons, the icons will help you visually identify which files are text files, audio files, movies, and so on. These icons are either generic or set to the default app for that particular file type. If Notepad is your Windows desktop’s default text editor, the app’s icon will be used as the icon for all TXT files. A free app called File Types Manager for Windows is required to Change icon for file type without changing which app opens it by default.

How to change the icon for a file type on Windows 10

Change icon for file type

Download File Types Manager for Windows. You’ll also need a new icon to replace the one you have now. You are free to use any other system icon. It’s simple to extract them, or you can make an icon from an existing PNG image.

Go through the list of file types in File Types Manager for Windows. Right-click on the file type for which you want to Change icon for file type. Select “Edit Selected File Type” from the context menu.

There will be a new window open. A new window will open when you click the browse button next to the ‘Default Icon’ field. Because the File Types Manager for Windows lacks the ability to restore a file type’s default icon, you should keep track of which icon is currently in use in case you want to return to it. Click the ‘Browse’ button in the Change Icon window to find the icon you want to use. The icon will be updated after you click OK in both windows.

The file type’s icon will change across the OS; for example, I changed the icon for MP3 files, and all MP3 files on my system will now display the new icon.

If you change the default app for opening the file type, the icon for that file type will be updated to match the new app’s icon. However, if you return to the previous default app, the icon for the file type that you selected will be used. You can try uninstalling and reinstalling the app to get the file type’s icon back.

Change icon for file type

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