Minecraft How to Use This Tool
- Drop in any image (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP, or AVIF), or paste one from your clipboard
- Frame it: crop, zoom, and drag to position, then pick Smooth or Pixelated scaling and adjust brightness if needed
- Check the server list preview, then download the finished
server-icon.pngand upload it to your server root
Everything runs in your browser. Your image is never uploaded anywhere.
The #1 Problem: The Icon Silently Fails to Load
Minecraft is strict about server icons and quiet about rejecting them. If the file is 65x64, saved as a JPG renamed to .png, or named Server-Icon.png, the server boots normally and the multiplayer list just shows the default dirt-style placeholder. The only hint is a single log line:
[Server thread/WARN]: Failed to load server icon
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Must be 64 pixels wideOlder versions log Couldn't load server icon instead, but the failure is the same: the icon is skipped and the server keeps running.
Most icon problems come down to one of four checks:
| Check | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | Exactly 64x64 pixels. No other size loads |
| Format | Real PNG data, not a renamed JPG or WebP |
| Filename | server-icon.png, lowercase, with the hyphen |
| Location | Server root, next to server.properties |
This tool guarantees the first two: the output is always a true 64x64 PNG, and the download is already named server-icon.png.
Uploading the Icon to Your Server
- Open your server’s File Manager (on WinterNode, it’s in the panel sidebar)
- Upload
server-icon.pngto the top-level directory, alongsideserver.properties - Restart the server
- In your Minecraft client, click Refresh in the multiplayer list
The full walkthrough with panel screenshots is in the server icon help article.
Icon not updating after a change?
The Minecraft client caches server list data. If an old icon sticks around after you upload a new one, click Refresh in the multiplayer list, or leave and re-add the server entry.
Making 64x64 Actually Readable
64x64 is tiny, and the client renders it at that size even on 4K screens. What looks sharp at full size often turns to mush in the list:
| Source image | What to do |
|---|---|
| Logo with fine text | Crop to just the emblem or initial. Full wordmarks are unreadable at 64px |
| Photo or screenshot | Zoom into one strong subject. Wide landscapes become noise |
| Pixel art or skin face | Use Pixelated scaling so edges stay crisp instead of blurring |
| Low-contrast art | Nudge contrast and saturation up 10 to 20 percent; the dark list background swallows muted colors |
| Transparent logo | Keep transparency for a cut-out look, or add a solid fill so the icon reads as a tile |
The server list preview above uses the same dark background as the real client, so what you see is what players get. Add your MOTD (with § color codes) to judge the icon and text together.
Smooth vs Pixelated Scaling
The tool ships two downscaling modes because one setting cannot serve both art styles:
- Smooth runs a stepped high-quality downscale, which keeps logos and photos clean instead of aliased. Use it for anything drawn at high resolution.
- Pixelated uses nearest-neighbor sampling with no blending. Use it for pixel art, Minecraft skin faces, and block textures, where blending would smear the pixels that are the whole point.
Related Files: pack.png Is Not server-icon.png
Resource packs use their own icon file, pack.png, which lives inside the pack zip, not the server root. Unlike the server icon, it has no strict size rule (128x128 is common), but a 64x64 icon from this tool works fine. If you are building a server resource pack, generate the icon here, rename it to pack.png, and drop it into the pack root before zipping. Merging multiple packs? Use the Resource Pack Merger first.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Default placeholder still shows | Wrong filename or folder | Confirm server-icon.png (lowercase) sits next to server.properties, then restart |
| ”Failed to load server icon” in logs | Dimensions are not 64x64, or the file is not real PNG data | Re-download from this tool; it always outputs a true 64x64 PNG |
| Icon shows locally but not for players | Client-side cache | Players need to hit Refresh in their multiplayer list |
| Icon looks blurry in the list | Smooth scaling applied to pixel art | Switch to Pixelated mode and re-download |
| Colors look washed out in-game | Dark list background flattens muted art | Raise contrast and saturation slightly, then re-check the preview |
| Uploaded a GIF and nothing happened | Server only reads PNG | Convert here; the GIF’s first frame becomes the PNG |
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Frequently Asked Questions
The file must be exactly 64x64 pixels, PNG format, named server-icon.png (lowercase, with the hyphen), and sit in the server root next to server.properties. If any of those are wrong, the server skips the icon without a clear error. After uploading a correct file, restart the server and refresh your multiplayer list.
Exactly 64x64 pixels. The server does not resize images for you: a 63x64 or 128x128 file is rejected and the log shows 'Failed to load server icon' with 'Must be 64 pixels wide'. This tool always outputs exactly 64x64, so the size check can never fail.
Transparency works: PNG alpha renders over the dark server list background, which many icons use for a cut-out look. Animation does not work. Uploading a GIF does nothing because the server only reads PNG; this tool converts a GIF's first frame to PNG instead.
In the server root directory, the same folder that holds server.properties and the world folder. Not inside the world folder, not in a subfolder. On WinterNode, open the File Manager and upload it to the top-level directory, then restart.
No. server-icon.png is a Java Edition feature. Bedrock dedicated servers have no equivalent file; the icon players see for Featured Servers is set by Mojang partnerships, not by a file on the server.
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