EXP File: BERNINA & Melco Embroidery Format

EXP embroidery file format

An EXP file is the machine embroidery format of BERNINA, and before that of Melco's commercial machines. It holds the stitches, jumps, trims and colour stops of a design and nothing else: on a BERNINA, the thread colours live in a separate INF file and the preview picture in a BMP. Hatch's format list sums it up as a "Melco embroidery design file" that is "also used for newer BERNINA embroidery USB format".

Updated October 3, 2026

At a glance

Made for

BERNINA embroidery machines; first Melco's commercial format

Thread colours

None inside the EXP; BERNINA stores them in an INF file with the same name

Companion files

EXP (stitches), INF (colours) and BMP (picture) travel together on BERNINA's USB stick

Stitch records

Two bytes per stitch, moves up to 12.7 mm; escape codes for jumps, trims and colour stops

Design file

BERNINA's software saves ART design files; EXP is what it exports for the machine

On Embroidly

In every download; colours are on the thread chart and the colour sheet in the ZIP

Three files for one design

BERNINA's own blog reminds owners to copy three files for every design to the USB stick:

File	What it carries	Without it
`.exp`	The stitches, trims and colour stops	Nothing to sew
`.inf`	The thread colours	The machine shows default colours
`.bmp`	The picture for the screen	No preview

The three share a file name, so rose.exp, rose.inf and rose.bmp belong together: keep the names identical when you copy them. The EXP alone sews exactly the same design; the companions only change what the screen shows.

What is inside an EXP file

EXP is one of the most compact formats. Each stitch is two bytes, a sideways and a vertical move of up to 12.7 mm. When a move is a jump, a trim or a colour stop, an escape byte announces a command first. There is no header with a name, hoop or stitch count either: programs work out the size and stitch count from the stitches themselves.

Which machines read EXP

Every BERNINA embroidery machine reads EXP. The B 880 and B 790 add DST, PES, JEF, PCS, SEW and XXX with the Embroidery PLUS upgrade. bernette, BERNINA's second brand, is multi-format: the b70 DECO and b79 read VP3, VIP, PEC, HUS, DST, EXP, JEF and PES, although the manual recommends loading designs through BERNINA's free software. The Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff flagships with 15 formats also list EXP.

BERNINA's embroidery software saves its working files as ART, which machines can't sew. EXP is what the software exports for the machine.

How to open an EXP file

The free embroidery file viewer opens an EXP and shows the real size, stitch count and colour stops. The colours you see are placeholders, because the file has none; the design's thread chart or its INF file decides the real ones. How to open embroidery files covers the desktop options for Windows and Mac.

Converting EXP files

EXP to DST is a near one-to-one move between two colourless formats: the stitches and colour stops carry over, and DST's header gains the stitch count and extents.
PES to EXP turns a Brother file into a BERNINA one. The PES colours stay behind, so keep the thread chart.

Converting never changes the stitches or the size. If you have an ART file instead, export EXP from BERNINA's software rather than looking for a converter.

EXP files from Embroidly

Every library design includes an EXP file in each of its three sizes. Our downloads don't include an INF file, so a BERNINA shows default colours: the design page lists the colours in sewing order, and the all-formats ZIP adds a printable colour sheet. Every EXP is read back after writing and checked against the digitized design, stitch by stitch.