diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 906dbbe..877913c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,5 +19,5 @@ tildes/static/css/*
 tildes/static/js/third_party.js
 tildes/static/js/tildes.js
 
-# don't track the site-icons spritesheet(s)
-tildes/static/images/site-icons*
+# don't track site icon files
+tildes/static/images/site-icons/*.png
diff --git a/salt/salt/cronjobs.sls b/salt/salt/cronjobs.sls
index 86c9a8a..05e4300 100644
--- a/salt/salt/cronjobs.sls
+++ b/salt/salt/cronjobs.sls
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ data-cleanup-cronjob:
     - hour: 4
     - minute: 10
 
-generate-site-icons-cronjob:
+generate-site-icons-css-cronjob:
   cron.present:
-    - name: /usr/local/bin/generate-site-icons
+    - name: {{ bin_dir }}/python -c "from scripts.generate_site_icons_css import generate_css; generate_css()"
     - user: {{ app_username }}
     - minute: '*/5'
diff --git a/salt/salt/scripts/generate-site-icons.sh.jinja2 b/salt/salt/scripts/generate-site-icons.sh.jinja2
deleted file mode 100644
index b8db625..0000000
--- a/salt/salt/scripts/generate-site-icons.sh.jinja2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-{% from 'common.jinja2' import app_dir -%}
-{% from 'site-icons-spriter.sls' import site_icons_venv_dir, site_icons_data_dir -%}
-#!/bin/bash
-{{ site_icons_venv_dir }}/bin/glue --sprite-namespace= --namespace= --retina --css-template={{ app_dir }}/scripts/site-icons-spriter/css_template.jinja2 {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/site-icons {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/output
-rsync --checksum {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/output/*.png {{ app_dir }}/static/images
diff --git a/salt/salt/site-icons-spriter.sls b/salt/salt/site-icons-spriter.sls
deleted file mode 100644
index ddd013c..0000000
--- a/salt/salt/site-icons-spriter.sls
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-{% from 'common.jinja2' import app_dir, app_username, python_version %}
-
-{% set site_icons_venv_dir = '/opt/venvs/site-icons-spriter' %}
-{% set site_icons_data_dir = '/var/lib/site-icons-spriter' %}
-
-# Salt seems to use the deprecated pyvenv script, manual for now
-site-icons-venv-setup:
-  cmd.run:
-    - name: python{{ python_version }} -m venv {{ site_icons_venv_dir }}
-    - creates: {{ site_icons_venv_dir }}
-    - require:
-      - pkg: python{{ python_version }}-venv
-
-site-icons-pip-installs:
-  cmd.run:
-    - name: {{ site_icons_venv_dir }}/bin/pip install glue
-    - unless: ls {{ site_icons_venv_dir }}/lib/python{{ python_version }}/site-packages/glue
-
-site-icons-output-placeholder:
-  file.managed:
-    - name: {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/output/site-icons.css
-    - contents: ''
-    - allow_empty: True
-    - makedirs: True
-    - user: {{ app_username }}
-    - group: {{ app_username }}
-    - unless: ls {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/output/site-icons.css
-
-site-icons-input-folder:
-  file.directory:
-    - name: {{ site_icons_data_dir }}/site-icons
-    - user: {{ app_username }}
-    - group: {{ app_username }}
-
-/usr/local/bin/generate-site-icons:
-  file.managed:
-    - source: salt://scripts/generate-site-icons.sh.jinja2
-    - template: jinja
-    - user: root
-    - group: root
-    - mode: 755
diff --git a/salt/salt/top.sls b/salt/salt/top.sls
index ccfb711..ba77e1c 100644
--- a/salt/salt/top.sls
+++ b/salt/salt/top.sls
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ base:
     - prometheus.exporters.rabbitmq_exporter
     - prometheus.exporters.redis_exporter
     - consumers
-    - site-icons-spriter
     - boussole
     - webassets
     - cronjobs
diff --git a/tildes/consumers/site_icon_downloader.py b/tildes/consumers/site_icon_downloader.py
index 127f30e..d20a331 100644
--- a/tildes/consumers/site_icon_downloader.py
+++ b/tildes/consumers/site_icon_downloader.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from tildes.models.scraper import ScraperResult
 class SiteIconDownloader(PgsqlQueueConsumer):
     """Consumer that generates content_metadata for topics."""
 
-    ICON_FOLDER = "/var/lib/site-icons-spriter/site-icons"
+    ICON_FOLDER = "/opt/tildes/static/images/site-icons"
 
     def __init__(self, queue_name: str, routing_keys: Sequence[str]):
         """Initialize the consumer, including the public suffix list."""
diff --git a/tildes/scripts/generate_site_icons_css.py b/tildes/scripts/generate_site_icons_css.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e84333e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tildes/scripts/generate_site_icons_css.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2019 Tildes contributors <code@tildes.net>
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+"""Script to generate CSS related to site icons based on which have been downloaded."""
+
+import os
+import shutil
+import stat
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+
+ICON_FOLDER = "/opt/tildes/static/images/site-icons"
+OUTPUT_FILE = "/opt/tildes/static/css/site-icons.css"
+
+CSS_RULE = """
+.topic-icon-{domain} {{
+  background-image: url('/images/site-icons/{filename}');
+  border: 0;
+}}
+"""
+
+
+def _is_output_file_outdated() -> bool:
+    """Return whether the output file needs an update yet."""
+    # check if any icon files have a modified time higher than the output file's
+    try:
+        output_file_modified = os.stat(OUTPUT_FILE).st_mtime
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        return True
+
+    for entry in os.scandir(ICON_FOLDER):
+        if entry.stat().st_mtime > output_file_modified:
+            return True
+
+    return False
+
+
+def generate_css() -> None:
+    """Generate the CSS file for site icons and replace the old one."""
+    if not _is_output_file_outdated():
+        return
+
+    with NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w") as temp_file:
+        for filename in os.listdir(ICON_FOLDER):
+            split_filename = filename.split(".")
+            if len(split_filename) < 2 or split_filename[1] != "png":
+                continue
+
+            temp_file.write(
+                CSS_RULE.format(domain=split_filename[0], filename=filename)
+            )
+
+        temp_file.flush()
+        shutil.copy(temp_file.name, OUTPUT_FILE)
+
+    # set file permissions to 644 (rw-r--r--)
+    os.chmod(OUTPUT_FILE, stat.S_IRUSR | stat.S_IWUSR | stat.S_IRGRP | stat.S_IROTH)
diff --git a/tildes/scripts/site-icons-spriter/css_template.jinja2 b/tildes/scripts/site-icons-spriter/css_template.jinja2
deleted file mode 100644
index aafbb3f..0000000
--- a/tildes/scripts/site-icons-spriter/css_template.jinja2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-{# Copyright (c) 2018 Tildes contributors <code@tildes.net> #}
-{# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later #}
-
-{% for r, ratio in ratios.items() %}
-{% if ratio.ratio == 1.0 %}
-.topic-icon {
-  background-image: url('/images/{{ ratio.sprite_path }}?{{ hash }}');
-  background-size: 0 0;
-}
-{% else %}
-@media screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: {{ ratio.ratio }}), screen and (min-resolution: {{ ratio.ratio }}dppx) {
-  .topic-icon {
-    background-image: url('/images/{{ ratio.sprite_path }}?{{ hash }}');
-  }
-}
-{% endif %}
-{% endfor %}
-
-{% for image in images %}
-.topic-icon-{{ image.label }} {
-  background-position: {{ image.x ~ ('px' if image.x) }} {{ image.y ~ ('px' if image.y) }};
-  background-size: {{ width }}px {{ height }}px;
-  border: 0;
-}
-{% endfor %}
diff --git a/tildes/scss/modules/_topic.scss b/tildes/scss/modules/_topic.scss
index 3c1647d..f6ac541 100644
--- a/tildes/scss/modules/_topic.scss
+++ b/tildes/scss/modules/_topic.scss
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
   margin-top: 2px;
   margin-right: 0.2rem;
   border: 1px dashed;
+  background-size: 16px 16px;
 }
 
 .topic-log {
diff --git a/tildes/static/images/site-icons/README b/tildes/static/images/site-icons/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f6691a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tildes/static/images/site-icons/README
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This folder holds the site-icons (favicons) downloaded by the "site_icon_downloader" consumer.
diff --git a/tildes/tildes/__init__.py b/tildes/tildes/__init__.py
index a64341b..6023928 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/__init__.py
+++ b/tildes/tildes/__init__.py
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ def main(global_config: Dict[str, str], **settings: str) -> PrefixMiddleware:
     config.add_webasset("javascript", Bundle(output="js/tildes.js"))
     config.add_webasset("javascript-third-party", Bundle(output="js/third_party.js"))
     config.add_webasset("css", Bundle(output="css/tildes.css"))
-    config.add_webasset("site-icons-css", Bundle(output="css/site-icons.css"))
 
     config.scan("tildes.views")
 
diff --git a/tildes/tildes/templates/base.jinja2 b/tildes/tildes/templates/base.jinja2
index 6ef8f4c..99d3ded 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/templates/base.jinja2
+++ b/tildes/tildes/templates/base.jinja2
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@
   {% assets "css" %}
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ ASSET_URL }}">
   {% endassets %}
-  {% assets "site-icons-css" %}
-  <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ ASSET_URL }}">
-  {% endassets %}
+  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/site-icons.css">
 
   {# Favicons and other data for "pinning" the site on various platforms #}
   <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16">
diff --git a/tildes/webassets.yaml b/tildes/webassets.yaml
index e25f76b..aa5fcda 100644
--- a/tildes/webassets.yaml
+++ b/tildes/webassets.yaml
@@ -21,8 +21,3 @@ bundles:
       - css/spectre-0.5.1/spectre.css
       - css/styles.css
     output: css/tildes.css
-  site-icons-css:
-    merge: false
-    contents:
-      - /var/lib/site-icons-spriter/output/site-icons.css
-    output: css/site-icons.css