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What is a DST file?

A .DST file is an embroidery design in the Tajima stitch format. It is the most widely supported embroidery format in the world: commercial multi-needle machines from Tajima, Ricoma, SWF, Happy, Barudan, Melco and many others read it, and almost every digitizing program can export it.

What's inside a DST file

• A 512-byte header in plain text with the design label, stitch count, colour-change count and the design's extents.
• Stitch records of 3 bytes each. Every record is a move relative to the previous needle position, in units of 0.1 mm, with a maximum of 12.1 mm per move.
• Commands for jumps (move without sewing), colour changes/stops, and the end of the design. Trims are usually expressed as a short sequence of jumps that the machine interprets as a cut.

Why DST files have no colours

DST was designed for multi-needle machines, where the operator assigns thread to needles at the machine. So the file only says “stop and change to the next colour”, never which colour. Every viewer therefore has to guess colours. Some software saves the real colours in a companion file — .COL, .EDR or .INF — with the same name.

How to open a DST file

1. Go to the free DST viewer.
2. Drop the .dst file (and its .col/.edr/.inf file if you have one) onto the page.
3. Check stitch count, size, colour changes and hoop fit in the Stats panel, and play the sew-out.

Nothing is uploaded — the file is read in your browser.

Can I edit a DST file?

You can change colours, and embroidery software can make small edits, but DST is a stitch file: it has no shapes to edit. Large resizes or edits should be made in the original working file (EMB, ART, PEN, etc.) and exported again.

Frequently asked questions

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Last updated 2026-09-30