Which embroidery file format does my machine use? Brand and model table

The format your machine reads is decided by the brand, and the list is short: Brother and Baby Lock read PES, Janome reads JEF, Bernina reads EXP, Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff read VP3, Singer reads XXX, and almost every commercial machine reads DST. The table below puts model names, secondary formats and the largest hoop next to each brand, with the manufacturer page or manual it came from. Where a manufacturer page could not be checked, the row says so.

Brand and model table

Sewing fields are in millimetres, taken from the hoop presets in our hoop checker. Inch names on hoops are nominal: a "4 x 4" field is 100 × 100 mm, not 101.6 mm.

| Brand | Models (examples) | Native format | Also reads | Largest sewing field | |---|---|---|---|---| | Brother | PE535, SE600, SE700 (4x4); PE800, PE900 (5x7); Innov-is series; Luminaire | PES | PHC, DST; PEN on SE700 and PE900 | 272 × 408 mm (Luminaire, 10.6 x 16) | | Baby Lock | Flare (6.25 x 10.25 field); Luna, Ursa (8 x 14); Reflection (9.5 x 14); Radiance | PES | PHC, DST | Radiance ships an 11 5/8 x 18 1/4 in hoop per babylock.com; check the manual for the field | | Janome | Memory Craft 500E, 550E; Skyline, Continental, Memory Craft 9850 and 15000 families | JEF | JEF+ and JPX on 550E; DST on some models, check your manual | 200 × 360 mm (RE36b on the 550E) | | Elna, Kenmore (Janome-built) | Check your manual | JEF | Check your manual | Check your manual | | Bernina | 5, 7 and 8 series with embroidery module | EXP | ART via Bernina software; check your manual for PES and DST | 400 × 260 mm (Jumbo hoop) | | Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff | Designer and Creative families | VP3 | VP4 on newer models; HUS and VIP on older ones; check your manual | 360 × 200 mm | | Singer | Futura, Legacy and SE families | XXX | Check your manual | 200 × 300 mm (8 x 12) | | Melco | EMT16, Amaya | EXP | DST | Check your manual | | Tajima, Ricoma, Barudan, Happy, SWF | Commercial single and multi-head | DST | Often PES and others; check your manual | 400 × 560 mm (16 x 22 frame) |

Sources for the verified rows: the Brother PE800, PE535, SE600, SE700 and PE900 operation manuals on Brother's support site (each states that only .pes, .phc and .dst embroidery data files can be used; the SE700 and PE900 specification tables add .pen); the Brother USA product pages for the maximum embroidery area of each model; the Janome USA product pages for the Memory Craft 500E (embroidery format .JEF, maximum 7.9 x 11 in with the RE28b hoop) and 550E (.JEF, .JEF+, .JPX, maximum 7.9 x 14.2 in with the RE36b hoop); and the Baby Lock Flare product page (.pes, .phc, .dst; 6.25 x 10.25 in field). Bernina, Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff and Singer support pages could not be retrieved while this guide was written, so the format columns for those brands come from our own format parsers and 225 real files, and the hoop sizes from the engine presets. Confirm against your manual before buying a design.

What each format actually stores

Three things separate the formats in practice. First, whether thread colours are stored: PES, JEF, VP3, XXX and HUS carry colours; DST and EXP carry only the stop between colour blocks. Second, how trims are encoded: DST uses a run of three jumps, EXP and VP3 write an explicit trim, JEF leaves trims optional. Third, geometry limits: DST records are relative moves of at most 12.1 mm, so long moves are split into several records, while VP3 has no jump command at all and writes long moves as unstitched travel. None of these change where the needle lands. Our writers were checked byte for byte against pyembroidery on the same input, and the embroidery file formats guide goes through each block in detail.

Finding the format of a file you already have

Look at the extension. A design sold as "all formats" is usually a folder with the same design saved seven times; pick the one from the table above and ignore the rest. If a shop sent only one format and it is not yours, the design was not digitized wrong, it just needs a conversion.

To check a file before stitching, drop it into the embroidery file viewer. It parses the file on your device without uploading, and shows stitch count, colour blocks, width and height in millimetres, and the hoop presets it fits. If the viewer shows the design with sensible colours and a size that matches the listing, the file is fine.

Converting between formats

Conversion changes the container, not the stitches. The pairs people ask for most have their own pages with format-specific notes:

• Commercial to Brother: DST to PES. DST has no colours, so each block gets a placeholder colour you can change in the viewer before download.
• Brother to commercial: PES to DST. Thread names are dropped; trims become the three-jump sequence.
• Brother to Janome: PES to JEF. Colours are matched to the nearest Janome chart entry, which is what the machine displays. Stitches longer than 12.7 mm are split.
• Janome to Brother: JEF to PES. Chart indices become RGB and are matched to the Brother palette; the output is PES version 1.
• Viking and Pfaff: VP3 to PES, PES to VP3 and, for older machines, HUS to PES.
• Bernina and Melco: PES to EXP and EXP to DST.
• Singer: XXX to PES.
• Janome and commercial: DST to JEF and JEF to DST.

Every pair runs in the browser through the same parsers and writers as the general converter. What you should check after any conversion is the colour order, because that is the only part that can legitimately differ. The thread colour conversion guide explains why a PES that shows "Brother Emerald Green" becomes "Janome Green" after conversion and how to match it to the spool you own.

Format and hoop are two separate questions

A machine that reads your format can still refuse the design if it is bigger than the sewing field. The Brother PE800 manual is explicit: a design larger than 18 × 13 cm is displayed rotated 90 degrees when read, and if it still does not fit it cannot be used. The 4x4 models (PE535, SE600, SE700) cap at 10 × 10 cm. Janome's 500E stops at 7.9 x 11 in and the 550E at 7.9 x 14.2 in with the RE36b hoop.

The hoop size chart lists every preset for the six brand groups, and the hoop fit checker reads the actual stitch extents of a file and tells you which hoops it fits, with the 3 mm clearance we recommend from the field edge, and whether rotating it helps. If you are choosing a machine, read the Brother PE800, PE535, SE600 and SE700 guide for what the 4x4 and 5x7 fields mean for appliqué sizes, or the Janome JEF guide for how JEF's hoop flags and chart colours behave.

What Appliqué Maker exports

The studio writes PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, XXX and PEC from the same three-layer appliqué (placement run, tack-down, satin border), so you pick your brand from the table and download that one. PES is written as version 1 with an embedded PEC block, the variant every Brother and Baby Lock machine reads. JEF gets Janome chart-index colours and hoop flags. DST gets the three-jump trims. Alongside the stitch file you get the matching cut file as SVG in real millimetres or DXF for Cricut, Silhouette and Brother ScanNCut. Free accounts get the analysis, preview and printable template; Pro ($9 per month or $69 per year) includes the machine files and cut files.

Where the table can be wrong

Manufacturers change accepted formats between firmware versions and regional variants, and retailers copy specification lines between models. Three checks protect you: read the data-types line in your own manual, open any purchased file in the viewer before you drive to the machine, and keep the design at least 3 mm inside the sewing field. If a row above disagrees with your manual, the manual wins; tell us and we will correct the table.