Skip to content
Stitch Toolbox

Free tool

Embroidery file converter

Reads 24 formats, writes 11. Drop the file, check the preview, pick the output, download. Runs in your browser, so a file is converted before you could have finished uploading it anywhere else.

Direct conversions

About this tool

What conversion can and cannot do

A stitch file is a list of needle positions with commands between them. Converting keeps every position to 0.1 mm; what changes is the metadata the target format can carry. DST and EXP store no colours, only stops, so a PES converted to DST needs a colour sheet. JEF stores colours as indices into Janome's 79-colour chart, PES as indices into Brother's 64-colour palette, so colours are matched to the nearest entry on the way in. VP3 stores thread names and has no jump command. Stitches longer than a format's record limit (12.1 mm for DST) are split into two.

The writers for DST, EXP, JEF, PES, PEC, XXX, U01 and TBF produce byte-identical output to pyembroidery for the same stitches; VP3 keeps exact positions where the reference library rounds. Every output is read back by the reader before you download it.

What conversion is not

It is not resizing (use the resize tool, which re-spaces stitches), not editing, and not digitising. It cannot open object formats such as EMB, ART, CSD or VP4; export a stitch format from the software that made them, then convert here.

Direct pages

Each pair below has its own page with the specific losses and a FAQ, useful when you already know which two formats you are moving between.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Drop the source file

    Any of the 22 readable formats; the format is detected from the contents.

  2. 2

    Pick the target

    Eleven output formats. The note under the picker says what that format keeps and drops: colours, trims, stitch length limits.

  3. 3

    Adjust if needed

    Rotate in 90 degree steps, mirror, and centre the design on the origin, which is what most machines expect.

  4. 4

    Download

    The file is written on your device and checked by reading it back before the download starts.

Questions

Does converting change the stitches?

Geometry is kept to 0.1 mm. What changes is what the target format can store: DST, EXP and U01 have no colours, so those are dropped; JEF and PES map colours to their machine palettes; VP3 and TBF keep names or RGB values. Trims and stops are translated. Each direct conversion page lists the specifics.

Why is the file bigger or smaller after converting?

Formats encode differently. DST uses three bytes per stitch, PES adds a header and an icon, VP3 adds thread names. The stitch count is what matters, and you can see it before and after.

My machine wants a different version of PES.

The PES written here is version 1 with an embedded PEC block. Every Brother and Baby Lock machine reads it, including those that ship with PES 10 designs; newer versions only add editing metadata that the machine ignores.

Can I convert EMB, ART, CSD or VP4?

No. Those are native object formats readable only by Wilcom, Bernina, Compucon and Husqvarna software respectively. Open the file there, export a stitch format (PES, DST, VP3), then convert.

Learn

More tools