Windows .ico file display problem in Irfanview

[Quisquose]

Often when I try to view a Windows icon (*.ico) in Irfanview, it will display the smallest possible icon size (16 x 16 pixels) instead of the largest size that is contained in the icon file (e.g. 128 x 128 or 256 x 256 etc.). This means that the icon previews in IrfanView is tiny and very low resolution, and it give no indication of the real appearance of the icon.

Strangely, this does not affect all multi-format icon files (some of them do display correctly) but the problem does exist for many icon files.

I attach 2 icon files to this post. The first icon (globe) displays correctly at full size, whereas the second icon (ring binders) displays as 16 x 16 pixels (despite it having icon sizes up to 256 x 256 in the file). This same problem also happens when downloading icons from various sites such as iconfinder.com.

I've been using Irfanview for years, but I don't recall whether it has always behaved like this or whether it's something that started happening in later versions.

How can I get Irfanview to always display the largest icon that is in an icon file? Is this a bug that I should report?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

It looks very much as being down to how the icon files were created. IrfanView, quite rightly, displays the first image in the file first, then the others when you click the next page icon.

I see no reason at all why it should search for the largest and then display that first.

@Icon Sushi shows the order of the images in the file.