DST vs PES vs JEF vs EMB: Which Embroidery File Format Do You Need?

You've ordered a digitized logo and now someone asks, "Which format do you want?" If you've never been asked that before, it can feel like a trick question. It isn't. Different machines read different file types, and sending the wrong one means your design won't load.

Here's what the four most common formats actually are.

DST (Tajima)

DST is the workhorse of commercial embroidery. Most multi-needle industrial machines read it, and nearly every digitizer can export it. It stores the stitch positions and the stops for color changes, but not the actual thread colors, so you'll set those at the machine or from a color chart.

If you run a commercial machine and aren't sure what to pick, DST is usually the safe answer. Check your machine's manual to be certain.

PES (Brother and Babylock)

PES is the format for Brother and Babylock machines, which makes it very common with home and small-business users. It includes color information, so the design shows up with thread colors already assigned.

JEF (Janome)

JEF is what Janome machines read. Same idea as PES, just for a different brand.

EMB (Wilcom)

EMB is different from the others. It's an editable working file for Wilcom software. It keeps the design as objects you can resize and adjust, but your machine can't read it directly. You'd ask for EMB if you own Wilcom software and want to edit the design yourself, and you'd usually ask for DST or another machine format as well.

How to choose

1. Look up your machine's brand and model, and check which formats it accepts. 2. Pick the machine format, such as DST, PES or JEF. 3. If you plan to edit the design later, ask for EMB too. 4. Not sure? Tell us the machine you use and we'll point you to the right one.

On our order form, you can choose DST, PES, JEF or EMB, or type in another format if you need something different.

One more thing: resizing

Embroidery files aren't like images. You can't just stretch a design 30% bigger and expect it to sew well, because the stitch density and underlay change with size. If you need a different size, ask for a new file at that size. That's the whole reason we price embroidery digitizing by finished design size.