HoopReady
Embroidery file formats
There is no single embroidery file format, and nobody tells you that before you need one. The format is decided by the machine that will sew the design, not by the design — so the useful question is not "which is best" but "which does mine read", and then "what does that one know about my colours".
The five, and what each one knows
All of them describe the same thing: where the needle goes, in what order. They differ over colour, and that difference is what you notice on the machine's screen rather than in the stitching.
| Format | Machine | What it stores about colour | In which package |
|---|---|---|---|
| .dst | Tajima, opens on most machines | Nothing. Colour-change commands and no colours — the machine stops, you decide what goes on next. | Basic, Standard, Premium, Enterprise |
| .pes | Brother and Babylock | A thread entry per block, snapped to the machine's own palette, so the screen names them for you. | Basic, Standard, Premium, Enterprise |
| .jef | Janome | A thread entry per block, snapped to Janome's palette. | Standard, Premium, Enterprise |
| .exp | Melco and Bernina | A thread entry per block. | Standard, Premium, Enterprise |
| .vp3 | Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff | Exact RGB, kept as it was given. The closest any delivered file comes to what we meant. | Standard, Premium, Enterprise |
Basic carries DST and PES together from $9.99, which covers commercial machines and the Brother and Baby Lock ones; Standard upwards carries all five, so the answer does not have to be known before you order. Every delivery also includes a thread list naming the colour for each block in order — the one part of a folder that says what the colours were meant to be whatever the format could store.
How to find out what your machine takes
What is not a machine format
Two things get called embroidery files and are not, and both cost people an order.
Colour blocks are not colours
The number your machine shows is blocks, not spools, and they are not the same when a design comes back to a colour it has already used. The crest we show on logo to embroidery is 3 threads sewn in 5 blocks: three spools on the table, 4 stops at the machine. A PES tells you that by naming the entries; a DST just stops. Which format carries what is the table at the top; what a PES stores in detail, and why the names on the screen are the machine's rather than your brand guide's, is on PNG to PES.
Delivery takes 1–3 business days, most orders the same day.
Questions
- What file format do I need for embroidery?
- Whichever one your machine reads, and there is no universal answer — that is the whole difficulty. Commercial machines almost always take DST; home machines are split by brand, Brother and Baby Lock on PES, Janome on JEF, Melco and Bernina on EXP, Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff on VP3. Every package we sell includes DST and PES together for that reason, and Standard upwards includes all five, so the question does not have to be settled before you order.
- How do I find out what my machine takes?
- Three places, in the order that usually works. The manual lists it under file types or design formats. The machine's own screen shows it when you put a USB stick in and browse — it will only list files it can read. And the maker's support page for your exact model number, which is on a sticker on the machine rather than on the box. If you are buying files for somebody else's machine, ask them for the model number rather than the brand: Brother alone has models that take PES and models that take PHC.
- Is one format better than another?
- Not for the stitching — they all describe the same needle movements, and a design sews identically whichever one you load. They differ over colour, and that is a difference in what the machine can tell you rather than in what it does. VP3 keeps exact RGB, PES and JEF snap every colour to the machine's own palette, DST carries none at all. Whichever you load, the thread list we deliver is what says what the colours were meant to be.
- Can I just rename a .png to .dst?
- No, and it is worth saying plainly because the file extension makes it look possible. A PNG stores pixels; a DST stores where a needle goes, in what order, with what stitch type. Renaming changes the label on a file whose contents answer a different question — the machine will refuse it or, worse, read nonsense. What actually has to happen is on PNG to DST.
- What is the SVG in the Premium folder for?
- It is the editable source, not another machine format — no embroidery machine reads it. It opens in Inkscape with Ink/Stitch, which is what we digitize with, so a digitizer of yours can change the file rather than start again. Premium and Enterprise include it; Basic and Standard do not, because most buyers never open it.
- The file has more colour blocks than colours. Is something wrong?
- No, that is normal and it is worth knowing before the machine surprises you. A design returns to a colour it has already used, and the file lists that spool twice. The crest on our logo to embroidery page is 3 threads sewn in 5 blocks: you load three spools and the machine stops 4 times.
Check your file freePrices and terms
The machines beside each format are the same wording your order page shows next to each delivered file; the packages come from the file that also enforces them; the thread and block counts are a real run of our engine on rule set 1.3. Nothing on this page is a number somebody typed.