Embroidery machines sew from stitch files: lists of needle positions, jumps, trims and colour changes in a format each machine maker chose. A design bought online or sent by a friend often comes as a .pes, .dst or .jef that needs the maker's software to look at - software that costs money, runs only on Windows, or is tied to one machine. This page opens the common formats in any browser, on a computer, tablet or phone.
Each file is read here and drawn stitch by stitch, in the colours the file names (PES, PEC, JEF, VP3 and XXX list their threads; DST and EXP have none, so stand-in colours are used and can be changed). The sew-out slider shows the order the machine will sew in, and the counts and size tell you whether it fits your hoop before you stitch. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
- Why are the colours of my DST file wrong?
- A DST file stores only where the needle goes and when to change thread, not which colours to use: the machine operator chooses the threads. This page shows stand-in colours, one per thread change, so the parts can be told apart. Click a colour in the thread list to change it to the thread you plan to use.
- Will my embroidery fit in my hoop?
- The page shows the design's width and height in millimetres and inches, measured from the outermost stitches. Compare them with the sewing area of your hoop (for example 100 × 100 mm, or 4 × 4 inches), leaving a little room around the edge.
- Can I convert PES to DST here?
- Yes: open the PES file and press Save as DST. The stitches, jumps, trims and colour changes are kept; the colours are not, because DST cannot hold them. EXP works the same way. Saving as PES or JEF is not offered.
- What do jumps and trims mean in an embroidery design?
- A jump moves the needle to another part of the design without sewing; a trim cuts the thread first, so no thread is left across the gap. Many jumps and trims make a design slower to sew. In a DST file, which has no trim command, a run of three or more jumps is how machines are told to trim, and is counted as a trim here.
- Does this show what the finished embroidery will look like?
- Close to it, but not exactly: each stitch is drawn as a line of thread width in its colour, so you can see the shapes, fills and stitch direction. Real thread has sheen and lies with some pull on the fabric, which a drawing does not show.
- Are my embroidery designs uploaded?
- No. The files are read in your browser and never leave your device, so a design you bought stays with you.
This page reads embroidery files with its own code, which follows the format readings of the open-source pyembroidery project. To turn a design picture into another format, see the SVG to PNG converter; for other craft files, open cutting designs in the DWG and DXF Viewer.