What is a PES file?

PES is the native stitch format of Brother embroidery machines and of Brother's PE-Design software. Baby Lock machines use it too: Baby Lock lists .pes first among the formats its Meridian embroidery machine accepts, next to .phc, .pec and .dst. It is the file most home embroiderers and small shops running Brother or Baby Lock single-needle and multi-needle machines ask for.

If you run a commercial multi-head machine from another brand, you probably want a DST file instead. For which format each machine brand reads, see embroidery machines and their formats.

What does a PES file contain?

A PES file is really two files in one. The EduTech wiki PES reference describes a PES section and a PEC section, which are separate and follow their own rules:

SectionWhat it holdsWho uses it
PES sectionHigher-level design data, including the thread list in newer versionsDesign software such as Brother PE-Design
PEC sectionThe stitch commands, thread color references and small thumbnail imagesThe embroidery machine

The PEC section is why a Brother machine can show a picture of a PES design on its screen, while a DST on the same machine is listed by file name only. It is also why a PES is a stitch file first: the machine sews the PEC stitches, exactly as they were digitized.

What a PES does not hold, for most programs and every machine, is an editable master. Scaling a PES far from its original size has the same density problem as scaling a DST, so large size changes should go back to the working file, such as an EMB file, or be re-digitized.

How does a PES file store thread colors?

This is the main practical difference from DST. Each color stop in a PES points to a thread color, so the machine shows the design roughly as it will sew. How precise that color is depends on the PES version:

PES versionHow colors are stored
Versions 1 to 4 (#PES0001 to #PES0040)An index into a fixed palette of 64 predefined threads
Versions 5 and 6 (#PES0050, #PES0055, #PES0060)Configurable threads, which can include an RGB color, a brand, a description and a catalog number

The version code sits at the very start of the file. In practice this means a PES often shows the nearest Brother thread rather than the exact brand and shade the digitizer chose. Treat the on-screen colors as a guide and thread the machine from the digitizer's color list. And if a PES was converted from a DST, its colors are whatever the person converting it picked, not necessarily the digitizer's choice.

How do you open a PES file?

  • On the machine: copy the PES to a USB stick or send it over the machine's wireless connection, if it has one, and open it from the design list.
  • Brother and Baby Lock software: Baby Lock's free Design Database Transfer reads PES and many other formats, shows thumbnails and sends designs to compatible machines over wireless LAN. Baby Lock notes it does not convert formats.
  • Other embroidery software: commercial digitizing programs read PES, and the free, open-source Ink/Stitch extension for Inkscape reads and writes it.
  • In your browser: the free embroidery file converter opens a PES, shows the design, size, stitch count and colors, and converts it without uploading the file.

If a PES will not open on the machine, check that the design fits the machine's embroidery field and that the model lists .pes among its supported formats. Brother warns that data not created with its own design systems or machines can cause problems, so test any third-party file before a production run.

How do you convert a PES file?

PES to DST: for a commercial machine, open the PES in the converter or your software and save it as DST. Write down the color sequence first, because a DST cannot store it. DST to PES: convert, then set a color for every stop. Our DST to PES conversion guide covers both directions step by step.

Check the size against your hoop first

Many PES problems are not format problems at all. A design larger than the machine's embroidery field will not load or sew, whatever the format. Compare the width and height shown in the converter preview with the hoop you plan to use before you copy the file across, then stitch a test on similar fabric before a production run.

Either way the stitches are copied as they are. Conversion does not adapt a design to a new fabric, a cap or a new size. If you only have a picture and need a PES, that is digitizing, not conversion: see getting a PES file from a JPG, or order the file from our embroidery digitizing service, which includes every machine format with each design.

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Frequently asked questions

Brother and Baby Lock embroidery machines. Many of them also read DST, but PES is preferred because it carries thread colors and a preview image.
PEC is the machine section inside a PES file: the stitches, color references and thumbnails. PEC is also used as a file type of its own: Ink/Stitch can write .pec files, and some machines, such as the Baby Lock Meridian, accept them.
Older PES versions store each color as one of 64 predefined Brother threads, so the file shows the nearest match. Use the digitizer's thread list, or the thread color matcher to find an equivalent in your brand.
By a small amount, yes. Large changes spread or cram the stitches, because a stitch file has no objects to recalculate. Go back to the working file or have the design re-digitized for the new size.
The stitches can be identical, but the files are not. A PES adds thread colors and a preview for Brother and Baby Lock machines; a DST file holds stitches and color stops only.

Sources

Sources checked 19 September 2026.