How to open a PES file (and DST, JEF and other embroidery files)

A PES file is a Brother embroidery design, and neither Windows nor macOS comes with a program that opens it. The quickest way to see one is a browser-based embroidery viewer: upload the file to get a preview, its real size, the stitch count and the colours. To edit it, use embroidery software such as the free Ink/Stitch.

What is a PES file?

PES is the embroidery format of Brother and Baby Lock machines. It holds the stitches, the thread colours and small preview pictures, which is why a Brother machine can show it on screen before stitching. DST, JEF, EXP and VP3 are the equivalents for other brands. The PES format page explains what the file stores, and the file formats guide shows which machine reads which.

Because these are stitch files, not pictures, double-clicking one on a computer usually does nothing useful: the computer has no program assigned to the format.

Open a PES file online, on any computer or phone

The free embroidery file viewer runs in the browser, so it works the same on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPhone and Android:

1. Open the viewer and choose your file (PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3 and many more).
2. The preview appears with the design's real size in millimetres and inches, its stitch count and its colours.
3. Check that the size fits your hoop and that the colours match the thread you have.

Files up to 5 MB are accepted, and they aren't stored: each upload is processed and deleted. If the design needs another format, the same file goes straight into the embroidery file converter.

Open PES files on Windows

Windows has several free options, plus paid software for editing:

• Brother Design Database Transfer is free for Windows 8.1, 10 and 11. It's made for sending designs to Wi-Fi machines, but it also displays files: it shows PES, PHC, PHX, DST and PEN, plus EXP, PCS, HUS, VIP, SHV, JEF, SEW, CSD and XXX, which it can display but not send.
• Baby Lock Design Database Transfer is Baby Lock's equivalent and reads 15 formats, including PES, DST, JEF, EXP, HUS, VIP and XXX.
• Ink/Stitch describes itself as "an open-source machine embroidery design platform based on Inkscape." Installed into the free Inkscape drawing program, it opens about 40 embroidery formats and writes 10.
• Paid embroidery software such as Embrilliance Essentials (Windows and Mac) opens, edits and converts most home formats. Owners of Husqvarna Viking, Pfaff and Singer machines can also use SVP's own mySewnet software, which their manuals describe.

Open PES files on a Mac

macOS has fewer machine-brand tools, because Brother's and Baby Lock's Design Database Transfer are Windows-only. Mac users have three good routes:

1. A web-based viewer in Safari or any other browser.
2. Ink/Stitch, which runs in Inkscape on macOS as well.
3. Embrilliance Essentials, which runs natively on macOS and opens PES, DST, JEF, EXP, VP3, HUS and other formats.

Open PES files on a phone or tablet

On a phone, the browser is the simplest route: a web-based viewer behaves just as it does on a computer. Brother owners have a second option. Brother's Artspira app, for iOS and Android, imports external PES, PHC, PHX and DST files: email or download the file, then use the import function under My Creations. From there, Artspira can send the design to compatible Brother machines over Wi-Fi.

Open the file on the embroidery machine

Your machine opens the formats it supports straight from a USB stick, with a preview on its screen. Older Brother models are the exception for DST: the PE800 manual notes that DST files are listed "by file name (the actual image cannot be displayed)." The transfer guide covers sticks, folders and file names.

What you see when you open different formats

Brother's manuals describe the DST case directly: "Since Tajima (.dst) data does not contain specific thread color information, it is displayed with our default thread color sequence." Use the design's thread chart to stitch it in the intended colours. The DST format page explains the format's other limits.

Four things to check when you open a design

Opening a file is the moment to catch problems, before any fabric is hooped:

1. Size. Compare the width and height with your hoop's embroidery field, not its frame.
2. Stitch count. It tells you roughly how long the design takes and how firm a stabilizer it needs.
3. Colours. Count the colour changes and match each one to a thread you own; with DST, use the thread chart.
4. Format. Make sure it's one your machine reads. If not, convert it before copying it to the stick.

When an embroidery file won't open

Once you can see the design, check its size against your hoop and resize only slightly if you must: resizing embroidery designs explains how far a stitch file can go. To change format, a converter pair such as PES to DST rewrites the same stitches for another machine.