XXX embroidery file format

What a Singer XXX file stores

The file starts with a header describing the design, followed by the stitches as short moves with command bytes for jumps, trims and colour changes. At the very end sits the colour table: one red, green and blue value per thread, in sewing order. Software and machines that read XXX can therefore show the design in its intended shades, which DST and EXP can't.

Two things XXX doesn't carry are thread names and a preview picture. The colour value tells you the shade; the thread chart tells you which spool from your own collection comes closest.

Wilcom's format list adds that XXX includes needle addressing data, a detail that matters to multi-needle software rather than to home embroiderers.

Which Singer machines read XXX

Singer's embroidery range spans two generations, and they don't share a format:

So "Singer" alone doesn't tell you the format. The manual's format list does, and so does the age of the machine. BERNINA's B 880 and B 790 also read XXX after the Embroidery PLUS upgrade.

How to open an XXX file

The free embroidery file viewer opens XXX files in any browser and shows the stored colours, the real size and the stitch count. Commercial programs such as Hatch read and write XXX as a "Singer production file", and Brother's free Design Database Transfer can display XXX files on Windows, although it won't send them to a Brother machine.

Converting to and from XXX

The embroidery file converter writes XXX from about 40 input formats, PES, JEF and VP3 included, and turns an XXX into PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, U01 or PEC. Because XXX stores colour values, converting from it keeps the shades wherever the target format can hold them, such as VP3 and the PES thread table. For a Singer that reads VP3, the VP3 format page explains the richer alternative.

Singer XXX files from Embroidly

Every library design includes an XXX file in each of its three sizes, with the colours of our thread chart in its colour table. Like every format we ship, it is read back after writing and compared with the digitized design before it goes into your download.