Embroidery format

Introduction

There are several kinds of Embroidery file formats, and each contains different abilities and features. Some formats do have different versions, with increased features.

Information that may be found

1. Stitch Information.
   1. Direct commands go to x/y, add stitch, go to x/y, cut, change threads etc.
   2. Explicit location of the points for the segment list.
2. Vector Information
   1. Shape Data, Rectangle, Circle, Path etc.
   2. How these shapes should be filled. For example:
      1. Angle of the fill
      2. Start and stop formation
      3. Pattern for the needle impacts.
      4. Randomization of edge.
3. Font Information
   1. Text and font, how it should be applied.
4. Design information.
   1. Design name.
   2. Number of Stitches.
   3. Number of jumps.
   4. Size of embroidery.
5. Hoop Information.
   1. Specific custom hoop information.
6. Thread Information.
   1. Color data from a preselected list.
   2. Custom color data for thread.
   3. Thread Metadata, manufacturer, pantone approximate, etc.
   4. Thread Width.
7. 2D Bitmap information, simulated view of the sewout.
   1. Bitmap representation for project.
   2. Bitmap representation for each color.
8. Control information for the typical editor of that format.
   1. Color of background.
   2. Scaling information

Internal structure of some formats

• .DST file, contains a header of 512 bytes which contains design information statistics. Then a series of direct commands. This is all that is required to run the machine.
• .PES file, contains several different layers of information. After the header #PES00XX which determines the version of the file, it contains the position in the file containing the PEC block. The PEC block is information intended for the machine. This some information about the design, name, number of stitches, size, location of graphics information, followed by blanks equalling up to 512 bytes. And a series of direct commands for the design. This is followed by 1 bit graphic bitmaps. All of which are intended for the machine to run. Regardless of the version of the file. The program simply needs to read the location of the pec block, jump forward 512 bytes and read the direct commands. Or jump forward 22 bytes, read the graphics location, and then seek to that location and read the graphics to be displayed on the embroidery machine's screen. Different versions contain different information in the various blocks within the file that are jumped over. These include vector information and design specific instructions that are able to rebuild the stitch data from scratch. So an alteration can allow regeneration of the stitch data.
• .EXP file, contains only direct commands.
• .INF file, contains only color information like a thread chart.
• .ART file, contains a Compound File Binary Format, of a series of files. They have different classes of file according to whether it contains the design information. Different files within the format contain the summary information, the Design Information, contents (the compressed stitch data, zlib 4 bytes in), the Design Icon, a bitmap of the what the design should look like. Each class denotes how much information is in the .ART file. So having the contents means it can sew, but without the design information, edits would only be possible at the stitch information. This is very similar to the .emb format and they share a common code base.

Embroidery files are used both for stitching and editing. They need to be read by the machine doing the embroidery to process the series of commands. Since most machine embroidery is rendered from shapes and fills applied to those shapes, saving only data needed to stitch would be lossy. So many formats have a hybrid of this and store easy to read stitch data and higher level objects sometimes protected with encryption and compressed (.hus, .art, .emb). With the higher level the embroidery program can reproduce the lower level stitch commands. For most programs that read this data, they often have their own higher level objects and can read only the stitch data from other formats. When they also write these formats, they very often produce the minimum acceptable version of the file that will not crash the program reading the file. So converting from Wilcom's emb to PES will produce a PES with only stitches even if the Wilcom had access to the higher level objects and the saved version of .pes also those forms available.

Kinds of available formats

• All sorts of 2D bitmap and vector formats for the drawings, i.e. formats that are not specifically made for embroidery
• Embroidery file formats that work on a range of machines and also can be used as exchange formats. These are sometimes called commercial formats.
• Embroidery file formats that are mostly brand or even type specific
• Both so-called commercial file formats and more brand-specific formats come in two forms: Some only have stitching information, others keep information that makes them easily editable. The latter could be called worker files.

It seems that there are about 30 different formats. It is not clear to me what different formats can do. Also, I don't know how formats are supported by various vendors. Some formats seem to be barely editable since they only contain stitching instructions like "go to x/y" and "add a stitch from x1/1y to x2/y2" or "change thread". Others may include precise information about the shape and kind of a design part and keep stitching information apart, i.e. an area is not just defined in terms of stitches. The latter are more easily editable. Other formats (like JEF) may keep just some information, e.g. colors.

It is sometimes difficult to find out what formats a specific machine from various Brands can read. E.g. Bernina's feature their own brand-specific editable *.art formats, but it seems that the high-end machines directly can read *.exp which is a commercial format, if I understood right. When I bought an Elna 8300, no information about formats was included in the documentation (or I couldn't find it) ...

To make the situation worse, some formats have different subtypes. E.g. the popular .PES comes in eight (actually it's no fewer than 12, but most settings in the program that edits them rather than important information) different versions :( - I once thought that the situation was really bad for video codecs, video containers or 3D vector formats, but embroidery beats anything else I am aware of in terms of obscurity and diversity.

Vendors include conversion software that can translate to their (and other's) machine readable CNC formats from a series of other low-level and also from more high-level formats. The most popular exchange formats seem to be DST and EXP, but these are not necessarily the best. As little as we know of today (after few hours spent on exploration) a good format (e.g. EMB) includes a vector description of each design part and attaches abstract stitching information to that object. This way it can be transformed without deforming stitches. Less powerful formats are directly stitch-based. The most popular rather machine-specific format seems to be *.pes (Brother) since it also includes worker information.

Embroidery file formats

extension	Machine manufacturer	software range	Contents
ART	Bernina	brand-specific	worker + stitch
CND	Melco	professional programs	worker + stitch
CSD	Singer, POEM	brand-specific
DST	Tajima	most programs	stitch + stops
DSG	Sierra	Stitch Era software	worker + stitch
EMB	Wilcom	most high-end programs	worker + stitch
EXP	Melco, Bernina (high-end models)	most programs	stitch
FDR	Barudan	?	?
HUS	Husqvarna Viking	brand-specific, many programs	stitch
JEF	Janome, Elna	brand-specific, many programs	stitch + color
PCQ,PCD,PCM, PCS	Pfaff	Brand-specific	stitch
PEC	Bernina ?	brand-specific	stitch + color
PES	Brother	popular, most programs	worker (?) + stitch + color
SEW	Janome, Elna, Kenmore	most programs	stitch
SHV	Husqvarna Viking	brand-specific	stitch
VIP	Pfaff (older), Husqvarna	brand-specific	stitch
VP3	Pfaff (newer)	brand-specific	stitch
XXX	Singer, Compucon	brand-specific	stitch

Other lists:

• Embroidery File Formats supported in Embird
• Formats Supported at embroideryarts.com
• Need other embroidery format? Good list about popular embroidery formats (from Russia).