Which embroidery file does your machine read?
This is the question that stops most people before they have started, and it has a short answer: the stitches are identical in every one of these files. Only the wrapper differs, so “which format?” is a question about your machine and nothing else. Below is each one, the machines that read it, and where you are likely to meet it.
If you run a business, it is DST
Tajima DST is the format commercial machines have read for forty years, and it is the one a contract embroiderer will ask you for. It carries stitches and jumps and nothing else — no colours, no names, no metadata. That is exactly why it is universal: there is nothing in it for a machine to disagree with.
Home machines each want their own envelope
Brother and Babylock read PES, Janome and Elna read JEF, Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff read VP3, Melco and Bernina read EXP, and Singer reads XXX. They are the same needle path in different packaging, usually with a colour list attached. Send the wrong envelope and the machine will not open it — not because the stitches are wrong, but because the wrapper is.
SVG is not a machine format, and that is the point
The vector is the drawing, not the sewing. It is what a print shop wants, what a sign maker wants, and what you want on file so the logo can be made again at a different size without going back to a photograph. Keep it even if your machine will never read it.
Which file your machine reads
| Format | Machine | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| DST | Tajima | Every commercial machine |
| PES | Brother · Babylock | Home and small studio |
| JEF | Janome · Elna | Home |
| VP3 | Husqvarna Viking · Pfaff | Home |
| EXP | Melco · Bernina | Commercial |
| XXX | Singer | Home |
| SVG | Illustrator · Figma · Inkscape | Not a machine — the drawing itself |
If you run a business, it is DST. Everything else is a home machine asking for its own envelope.
What you can send in
A PNG, a JPG, an SVG, a PDF or an Illustrator file. Each one behaves differently — here is what happens to yours:
- Which embroidery file format should I use?
- If a commercial machine or an embroidery shop is sewing it, DST. If it is your own home machine, the format that machine reads: PES for Brother, JEF for Janome, VP3 for Husqvarna Viking, EXP for Melco or Bernina, XXX for Singer.
- Are DST and PES different stitches?
- No. The needle path is the same; the wrapper is different. PES carries a colour list and a small preview, DST carries stitches and jumps only. Converting between them does not change how it sews.
- Can I open an embroidery file in Illustrator?
- Not the machine formats — they are stitch instructions, not drawings. That is what the SVG is for: it opens in Illustrator, Figma or Inkscape and can be scaled without losing anything.
Drop a logo in and every format is written at once. You pick which one to download afterwards, and changing your mind costs nothing.