Why does browser show smaller favicon?

Question

In our client's website, favicon.ico file has several sizes from 8x8 to 32x32. I expect the 16x16 to show in browser tab, but instead it shows 8x8 icon in white frame. Why does this happen and what workarounds are there?

Answer 1

Favicon should be 16x16 or 32x32 at 8-bit or 24-bit, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon#Standardization_and_implementation

But in my experience, try to get the favicon to have file size 1.12KB like Google, StackOverflow etc :P

Answer 2

try clearing cache and rebooting. See here

Answer 3

Your favicon is 24 X 24, try making it 32 X 32.

This is useful too:

http://www.html-kit.com/support/favicon/image-size/