EMB, ART, BE, CND, PXF: why native embroidery formats cannot be converted online

An online converter that claims to turn EMB into PES is either lying or is Wilcom in disguise. The reason is not licensing or laziness; it is what the file contains.

Stitches versus objects

A stitch file (PES, DST, JEF and the rest) is the finished needle path: move, stitch, move, stitch, stop. Any program that knows the byte layout can read it, which is why the converter reads 22 of them.

An object file stores what the digitiser drew: a satin column between two curves with spacing 0.42 mm and a zigzag underlay; a tatami fill of this outline at 45° with 0.4 mm rows; a running stitch along that path at 2.5 mm; lettering "Sarah" in the program's own font at 12 mm. The stitches do not exist until the program generates them on export, using its own algorithms for corners, underlay, compensation and stitch splitting. To convert an object file you would have to reimplement the whole program.

That is why:

| Format | Program | Opens in | |---|---|---| | EMB | Wilcom (EmbroideryStudio, Hatch) | Wilcom, Hatch, TrueSizer | | ART | Bernina Embroidery Software (also OESD Explorations) | Bernina software, TrueSizer (some versions) | | BE | Embrilliance | Embrilliance | | CND | Melco DesignShop | DesignShop | | PXF | Pulse (Tajima DG) | Pulse | | VP4 | mySewnet (Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff) | mySewnet; the machines also read it | | CSD | Compucon (Singer Poem) | Compucon software | | PEM, PHX | Brother PE-Design | PE-Design | | NGS | Wings XP | Wings, My Editor | | ESS | Embird | Embird |

What to ask for instead

Ask the designer or shop for a stitch export in your machine's format and at the size you need. Every one of the programs above exports PES, DST and usually JEF, EXP and VP3, and the export is a click. Say the size explicitly: a design exported at 100 mm and a design exported at 60 mm are different files with different stitch counts, and the person with the object file can produce either with correct density. You cannot, from a stitch file, beyond about 20 % (why).

If you have the native file yourself and the program it belongs to, export from there. The free options:

• EMB: Wilcom TrueSizer (free with an account) opens EMB, resizes with density recalculation, and saves PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX and more.
• ART: Bernina's free ARTlink opens ART and saves EXP; TrueSizer opens some ART versions.
• BE: Embrilliance Express (free) opens BE and prints; saving to a stitch format needs Essentials.
• VP4: mySewnet (free tier) exports VP3.
• CND, PXF, CSD, PEM, NGS, ESS: the paid programs, or ask whoever made the file.

What a stitch export loses

Everything that made the native file editable: object boundaries, stitch types as parameters, the font the lettering came from, colour as named threads (partly kept in VP3 and TBF). What it keeps is the only thing the machine needs.

The practical consequences:

• Resizing becomes limited. The native file can be re-exported at any size with the same density; a stitch file can be re-spaced within a range. The resize tool does the second, and says how far it can go.
• Editing lettering stops being possible. "Sarah" in the native file is text; in the stitch file it is satin columns. Re-lettering means generating new lettering.
• Changing fabric needs the native file. Underlay and pull compensation are baked into the stitches.

When someone says they converted an EMB

Three things it could mean. The design was exported from Wilcom by someone who has it, which is fine. It was imported into another program as stitches and re-saved, which is also fine but it is a stitch file now, not a converted EMB. Or the program traced the preview image and auto-digitised it, in which case the result is a new design that resembles the original and should be checked with the pre-flight check like any auto-digitised file.

The one exception: VP4 and the Husqvarna machines

VP4 is an object format, but Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff machines from the Epic generation onward read it directly, generating stitches on the machine. That is the only case where a native format sews without an export. Sharing it with anyone else still needs VP3.