How to convert embroidery files without losing anything you needed

Converting an embroidery file is the easy part; it takes a second in the browser. The part that goes wrong is not knowing what the target format cannot hold, and finding out at the machine. This is the procedure that avoids that, with the specific traps for the pairs people convert most.

Step 1: check the source

Open the file in the viewer and look at four things.

• Size and stitch count. Confirm this is the design you think it is and that it fits the hoop you will use; the viewer lists the hoops it fits.
• Colour blocks. If the source is DST, EXP or U01 the colours are placeholders. If it is PES, JEF, VP3, XXX or TBF the colours are real and will carry over where the target allows.
• Longest stitch. Anything over 12.1 mm will be split when converting to DST, 12.7 mm for most others. Long stitches are usually in satin columns wider than 12 mm or in decorative running stitches.
• Pre-flight. The check takes a second and tells you about short stitches and stacked density; converting does not fix those, and it is better to know before the machine does.

Step 2: choose the target

Take the format the machine reads natively. Which format does my machine use has the table; the short version:

| Machine | Format | |---|---| | Brother, Baby Lock | PES | | Janome, Elna, Kenmore | JEF | | Bernina | EXP (newer machines also read PES and DST) | | Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff | VP3 | | Singer | XXX | | Tajima, Ricoma, SWF, Happy, ZSK, most commercial | DST (Tajima also TBF) | | Barudan | U01 (also DST) | | Melco | EXP |

If a machine reads more than one, prefer the one that stores colours (PES, JEF, VP3, TBF) over DST, so the machine screen shows the right threads.

Step 3: know what the target drops

Every format stores stitches; the differences are colours, trims and stitch length. Formats explained has the full table. The rules that matter most:

• To DST, EXP or U01: colours are gone. Print a colour sheet from the viewer first. DST writes trims as three jumps; EXP and U01 have real trim commands.
• To JEF: colours become Janome chart threads. Whatever was in the file is matched to the nearest of 79 Janome colours, and that is what the machine shows.
• To PES: colours become Brother palette entries. 64 of them. Names from a VP3 are lost.
• To VP3: jumps become moves. VP3 has no jump command; the machine moves without stitching. Harmless, but a design with many jumps will show a different jump count.
• To XXX or TBF: RGB kept. Both store a colour table, so a PES's colours survive as RGB even though the names do not.
• Stitches over the limit are split. 12.1 mm for DST, 12.4 mm for XXX, 12.7 mm for PES, JEF, EXP, U01 and TBF.

Step 4: convert

Drop the file on the converter or the direct page for the pair, for example PES to DST. Pick the output. Three options are worth a look before you download:

• Centre on the origin. On by default. Most machines expect the design's centre at 0,0; a file whose origin is at a corner can sew off the hoop.
• Rotate and mirror. Caps and left-chest placements often need a rotated or mirrored file. Do it here rather than on the machine, so the file matches what you printed.
• Output format. For DST the note under the button reminds you about colours; for U01 it reminds you the needle order is what you have on screen.

The file downloads in a second. Nothing was uploaded.

Step 5: verify

Open the converted file in the viewer. Stitch count should be the same as the source within a handful; if it is off by more than a percent, something went wrong (usually a corrupt source). Colour block count should match. Size should match to 0.1 mm. Then run the pre-flight check once more: the converted file will show the split long stitches, if any, as jumps.

For a paid job, stitch a sample. Conversion is exact for geometry, but it does not make a design digitised for twill sew on a polo.

The pairs that bite

PES → DST (direct page). Colours lost. Some shops' software reads the TC header lines that carry colours, but most does not; send a sheet.

DST → PES (direct page). The blocks get placeholder colours mapped to the Brother palette. Recolour them in the viewer before saving if the machine screen matters to you, or the operator will see "red, green, blue" instead of the real threads.

JEF ↔ PES. Both palettes are small and different, so a colour can land on a different-looking thread twice. Check the block list afterwards.

VP3 → anything. VP3 stores the most: names, brands, catalogue numbers. Every other format loses at least the names. Keep the VP3 as the master.

HUS / VIP → VP3 (direct page). Old Viking and Pfaff design collections are usually in these compressed formats, and most free tools cannot read VIP. Convert them to VP3 once and keep those.

Anything → U01 (direct page). The colour order becomes the needle order: needle 1 gets the first block, needle 2 the second. Write it down or set the machine's needle sequence to match.

EMB, ART, CSD, VP4 → anything. Not possible here or anywhere online. Why.

When conversion is the wrong tool

Conversion changes the container, not the design. If the design is the wrong size, resize with density correction. If it has short stitches, stacked blocks or untrimmed jumps, cleanup. If it needs different underlay or compensation for a different fabric, it needs a digitiser with the original object file.