How to get colorful IDE icon in window title on Windows

October 29, 2026 06:54 Updated

Background/Situation

On Windows the IDE icon might look different depending on the resolution and scaling. For example, with HiDPI resolution and recommended scale (3840 х 2160, 150%) the icon is colorful:

If I reduce the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and set scaling to 100%, the simplified square icon will be shown:

This is so by design: on low resolutions it is impossible to display colored and detailed icons properly. OS chooses the icon based on the actual size of the area where the icon is supposed to be displayed: if it's less than 20x20 pixels, a black square one will be selected.

Question

How do I get a colorful icon?

Answer

Increase display scale - e.g. 125% with 1920 x 1080 already does the trick.
Zoom IDE via main menu View | Appearance | Zoom.