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Stitch preview of a fox illustration digitized into a machine embroidery file
Embroidery
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DST File Converter
for Any Picture

Turn a logo, drawing or photo into a Tajima DST file — digitized into fills, satin and trims that commercial and home machines sew, with a preview of every stitch.

Choose a photo

This illustration in a 5×7 hoop: 20,000 stitches, tatami fills with satin details.

Digitized, Not Just Converted

Renaming a PNG does not make an embroidery file. The picture has to become stitches.

Fills and satin, chosen per shape

Wide areas get a tatami fill at an angle over an underlay that holds the fabric flat. Narrow shapes — outlines, letters, whiskers — get satin stitches across the column, the way a digitizer would sew them.

Sized to your hoop

Pick 4×4, 5×7, 6×10 or 8×8 and the design is fitted inside it, with the stitched area measured in millimetres and density kept at 0.4 mm row spacing whatever the size.

Trims, jumps and lock stitches

Colors are sewn from the background to the details, each object nearest-first, with lock stitches at every start and end and a trim wherever the thread would otherwise drag across the design.

See every stitch first

Before you download, the preview draws each stitch in its thread color, with the stitch count, number of colors and trims, and the sewing time.

Logos and Lettering Stay Crisp

Flat art is the easiest thing to digitize well. Solid shapes become clean fills, text becomes satin columns, and the white around a logo — and inside an O or an a — is left to the fabric instead of being stitched in white thread. Transparent PNGs work the same way.

Convert to DST
Stitch preview of a round logo with a tree and lettering, digitized to a PES file

How to Convert an Image to DST

DST is the Tajima format and the closest thing embroidery has to a universal file: commercial multi-needle machines read it, and so do most home machines and every embroidery program. It stores only needle moves — stitches, jumps, trims and color stops — so the digitizing has to be right before it is written.

Upload the picture and the generator digitizes it: colors become thread colors, wide areas become tatami fills over an underlay, narrow ones satin columns, and everything is sequenced from background to detail with trims between objects. Choose the hoop and the design is fitted to it.

DST does not carry thread colors, so the preview lists the colors in sewing order — set them on the machine as it stops for each change.

Convert to DST

Which Format Does My Machine Use?

PES for Brother, Baby Lock and Bernette, DST for Tajima and nearly every commercial machine, JEF for Janome, Elna and Kenmore, EXP for Melco and Bernina.

All four formats store the same stitches, so pick the one your machine reads. If you are not sure, check the file list on its USB stick or in the manual — or download DST, which almost every machine and embroidery program can open.

DST File Converter FAQ

Free Stitch Preview — File from $2.99

Digitize and preview for free. Pay once to download the file, or go Pro for unlimited files and patterns.

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  • Upload any picture
  • Choose colors and hoop
  • Stitch preview with counts
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  • PES, DST, JEF and EXP
  • Every hoop size
  • Printable chart PDF too
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Turn Your Picture into Stitches

Upload it, check every stitch, and download the file your machine reads.