I’ll show you how to change the icon of Google Chrome. Changing the icon of your browser can be a fun and personalized way to customize your desktop or taskbar, and it's fairly simple to do.

It's a small project to brighten up your workspace. For more visual tweaks, see color theme.

Change The Icon of Google Chrome [2026 Guide]

Find the shortcut

Locate your Google Chrome shortcut. This could be on your desktop or pinned to your taskbar.

Once you find it, right click on the icon. This opens a context menu with several options.

Open properties

From this menu, click on Properties. This opens the Properties window where you'll find several tabs related to your Chrome shortcut.

This is where you'll make the necessary changes to update your icon. Focus on the Shortcut tab, which is usually the default when the Properties window opens.

If you also need region-specific browsing tips, see country location.

Choose an icon

Look toward the lower half of this tab and click the Change Icon button. A new window appears presenting you with a list of available icons.

You might find something you like right there. If you have your own custom icon file, you can use that too.

Click Browse and navigate through your files to find your custom .ico file. Ensuring that the file is in ICO format is crucial, as this is the standard format Windows uses for icons.

After selecting your preferred icon, click OK. This confirms your selection and returns you to the previous window.

Apply changes

To make sure your changes are applied, click Apply. Then click OK to exit the Properties window.

At this point, you've successfully changed the icon on your Google Chrome shortcut. You may not see the update immediately.

If it doesn't update

If you notice that the icon hasn't changed right away, don't worry. You have a couple of options to refresh your desktop's appearance.

Right click anywhere on your desktop and select Refresh from the menu. This often prompts the system to update the icon display.

If Refresh doesn't do the trick, consider restarting your PC to fully ensure the new icon is displayed. You've just customized your Google Chrome icon, giving your digital space a bit more personality and flair.

Final thoughts

The process takes just a few clicks: open Properties, choose Change Icon, pick or browse to an .ico, then Apply and OK. Refresh the desktop or restart if the new icon doesn’t appear right away.

If you’re working on privacy and routing alongside visual tweaks, see IP address. I hope you found this guide straightforward and easy to follow.