PNG to CUR Converter

How to Convert PNG to CUR in 3 Steps

Making a cursor takes one decision that an icon never asks for: where the click lands. The PNG to CUR converter above puts that decision in front of you, then writes a file Windows reads correctly at every size.

PNG to cursor, image to cursor, PNG to CUR — they all mean the same job. CUR is the file type Windows uses for a still mouse pointer.

1. 01
   Add your image

   Drop a PNG into the box above — JPG, WebP and SVG work too — or paste it with Ctrl+V. A transparent PNG at 128×128 or larger gives the cleanest cursor.

2. 02
   Click where the cursor should click

   The editor shows your image on a pixel grid. Click the pixel that should be the click point — the tip of an arrow, the centre of a crosshair — then try it in the test area with your own mouse.

3. 03
   Download the .cur file

   Press Convert to CUR. The file holds all five sizes Windows asks for, 32 to 128 pixels, each with its own correctly scaled click point.

Doing a batch PNG to CUR conversion? Each row keeps its own click point; open a row to set it, then convert the whole list and download it as one zip.

PNG to cursor: choosing a good source image

A cursor is seen at 32 pixels most of the time, so the image has to survive being small. A bold, simple shape with a clear outline works; fine detail and thin lines disappear.

Start from a PNG with a transparent background — anything not transparent becomes a solid square around the pointer. Square artwork at 128 pixels or more gives the sharpest PNG to cursor result, because 128 is the largest size Windows asks for.

An SVG works too and is drawn crisply at every size. A JPG cannot be transparent, so remove its background first, then run the PNG to CUR conversion on the result.

What Is a Cursor Hotspot?

A CUR file is a Windows cursor. It uses the same container as an ICO icon, holding one image per size, plus a hotspot: the single pixel that counts as the click point. Get the hotspot wrong and every click lands slightly off.

For an arrow, the hotspot is the tip. For a crosshair or a dot, it is the centre. For a hand, it is the end of the pointing finger. The picture shows where the pointer is; the hotspot decides what you click.

Why some cursors click in the wrong place

A cursor's hotspot is stored in two fields that an icon uses for something else — colour planes and bit depth. If a converter writes the file with the icon type flag, Windows still reads those fields as the hotspot.

We tested a cursor made by ImageMagick, a common engine behind online converters. Windows loaded its hotspot as (1, 32) — one pixel in and below the bottom of a 32 px image. Chrome ignores the hotspot entirely unless the file is marked as a cursor.

Drop any .cur into the PNG to CUR converter and it reads the file's directory first. A cursor marked as an icon gets a warning, and converting it again writes a correct one with the click point you choose.

Test the click point before you download

Every row in the PNG to CUR converter has a test area. Move your mouse into it and the pointer becomes the cursor you are making. Click the dot: the page reports whether the click landed on it, because the browser measures clicks at the hotspot — exactly what Windows will do.

Which Cursor Sizes Does Windows Use?

Windows picks a cursor size from your display scaling, so a single 32 px image looks blurry on a high-resolution laptop. Microsoft's documentation gives the sizes it asks for:

Windows' own arrow cursor, aero_arrow.cur, holds exactly those five sizes. So does every file this PNG to CUR converter writes, largest first, each with the hotspot scaled to land on the same spot of your drawing. The pointer-size slider in Settings scales from these too.

Pixel art needs hard edges

Normal images are resized smoothly. A pixel-art cursor would turn soft that way, so for a pixel-art PNG to cursor conversion, tick Pixel art and each size is drawn with crisp, unblended pixels instead.

How to Install a Custom Cursor in Windows 11

A .cur from any PNG to CUR converter — this one included — has no Install option when you right-click it. You set it from the mouse settings instead — here is the path, as Microsoft documents it:

1. Open Settings → Accessibility → Mouse pointer and touch.
2. Under Related settings, choose Additional mouse settings.
3. In the Mouse Properties window, open the Pointers tab.
4. Select the role to replace — for example Normal Select.
5. Click Browse…, choose your .cur file and click Open.
6. Click Save As… to keep the set as a scheme, then OK.

Saving a scheme matters: some users report that changing the pointer style or size later in Settings replaces custom cursors. With a saved scheme you can pick yours again in one click. Cursor packs you download usually include an install.inf; right-click that file and choose Install to set every role at once.

Using a CUR File as a Website Cursor

Browsers accept the result of a PNG to CUR conversion directly in CSS. Pick Web · 32 or Web · 64 and each row shows the line to paste:

cursor: url('arrow.cur') 4 2, auto;

Two rules keep it working. Always end with a keyword such as auto as a fallback — the CSS is invalid without one. And stay small: Chrome and Firefox ignore cursor images larger than 128 × 128, and MDN recommends 32 × 32.

CUR vs ICO vs ANI

The three share one family. An ICO holds an icon at several sizes. A CUR is the same container with a hotspot added to each size — so a PNG to CUR conversion is an icon build plus one decision, the click point. An ANI is an animated cursor: a sequence of cursor frames wrapped in a different format.

For desktop and website icons, use the PNG to ICO converter. For a Mac app icon, the PNG to ICNS converter builds the macOS format. To look inside an icon file, extract its sizes as PNGs. And if you are changing icons on Windows too, our guide to converting PNG to ICO on Windows covers the icon side.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Free Converter Tools

This PNG to CUR converter is part of a family of free, in-browser tools on pngconvert.net — same privacy promise, no accounts, no uploads: