I heard this tip over at the Mac Geek Gab podcast episode 212. This is how to get a nice hi-res version of an application’s icon right from the application itself.
Open the Applications folder and then select the app of choice. Get Info the app by right-clicking and selecting “Get Info” or press command + i. The Get Info window should pop-up. Then click on the icon seen at the top left corner of the Get Info window.
Press command + c or the copy command then open Preview. Go to File and select “New from Clipboard” or just press command + n. You will now see the app icon that you chose in different sizes. Be sure to have your Preview’s Sidebar open.
Check out how detailed the hi-res TextEdit icon is
Not all applications have high-res icons. One way to know which is to view the Applications folder as Cover Flow. Maximize the Cover Flow window. Some icons will appear jagged around the edges. The developers probably haven’t gotten around to adding a hi-res version for Cover Flow yet.
AppZapper is one app without no hi-res icon yet
The way I used to do it when I wanted to get an app’s icon image was either using the Grab application then edit in Pixelmator or use Google to search for an image of the icon. This one is better since the image will have transparent background. It’s faster and easier, too.
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