# What is the meaning/point of including an icon and .desktop file inside an AppImage?

**URL:** <https://discourse.appimage.org/t/what-is-the-meaning-point-of-including-an-icon-and-desktop-file-inside-an-appimage/3058>\
**Category:** Creating AppImages\
**Created:** [November 26, 2024, 6:48am UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/what-is-the-meaning-point-of-including-an-icon-and-desktop-file-inside-an-appimage/3058 "2024-11-26T06:48:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@George](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/George)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:48am UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/what-is-the-meaning-point-of-including-an-icon-and-desktop-file-inside-an-appimage/3058/1 "2024-11-26T06:48:35Z")

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I don’t understand how the image/icon or .desktop file is used inside an AppImage, is there some kind of function to install an AppImage? Until fairly recently many AppImages could not be extracted so this information was not even easily accessible inside the AppImage once it was created.

What is the purpose of adding these to the AppImage?

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**Author:** ![probono](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/discourse.appimage.org/probono/32/81_2.png) [@probono](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/probono)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/what-is-the-meaning-point-of-including-an-icon-and-desktop-file-inside-an-appimage/3058/2 "2024-11-29T18:55:46Z")

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Hi @George. Some file managers and most AppImage desktop integration tools use this information to show the correct icon for the application and (optionally) to integrate it into the applications menu. [AppImageCommunity/awesome-appimage: Lovingly crafted AppImage tools and resources (github.com)](https://github.com/AppImageCommunity/awesome-appimage?tab=readme-ov-file#desktop-integration)

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**Author:** ![George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@George](https://discourse.appimage.org/u/George)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2024, 7:02am UTC](https://discourse.appimage.org/t/what-is-the-meaning-point-of-including-an-icon-and-desktop-file-inside-an-appimage/3058/3 "2024-12-02T07:02:49Z")

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- [appimage2desktop](https://github.com/me1ting/appimage2desktop) - Creates a desktop file and an icon in the system for an AppImage, nothing else.

Is no longer available sadly.