PNG to DST
Turn PNG into a stitch-ready DST file for Tajima and most industrial multi-needle machines — free, in the browser, nothing to install.
Convert now — no account neededWhat to know about starting from PNG
PNG is the best of the raster formats to start from: it is lossless, so edges stay crisp instead of smearing, and it can carry a transparent background, which means there is no white box around your artwork to remove first.
PNG to DST specifically
PNG carries colour and DST does not, so this conversion has exactly one lossy step and it is not the one people expect. The geometry survives intact — every edge your PNG defines becomes a stitch path. What does not survive is the colour: DST records "change thread here" and nothing about what to change to. The thread sequence list exported alongside the file is what carries your PNG's colours forward.
How to convert PNG to DST
- Upload your PNG. If your PNG already has a transparent background, you are ready — the converter reads the transparency and only stitches the artwork. If it has a solid background you do not want stitched, run background removal first.
- Set the finished size. Work in millimetres and set it before you judge anything else — every decision about detail depends on how big the design will be. Detail that survives at 150mm disappears at 60mm.
- Reduce the colours. Each colour is a thread change on the machine. Pick the fewest that still read as your artwork.
- Check the preview, then export as DST. The stitch preview plays the design in the order the machine will sew it, so you can catch problems before there is thread in the hoop.
About the DST format
DST is the native format for Tajima and most industrial multi-needle machines. DST is the universal format — if you are sending a design to a shop and do not know their machine, send DST. The trade-off is that it stores no thread colours at all, only the stops between them, so the operator sets the threads. We write a thread sequence list alongside the file so you can pass the colour order on.
What makes the difference to the result
Digitizing is not tracing. The converter decides how each region gets filled, which direction the stitches run, where the underlay goes and how much to compensate for the fabric pulling the design in as it sews. Those decisions are what separate a design that stitches cleanly from one that puckers, gaps at the edges or takes twice as long as it should.
- Size before everything. A shape narrower than about 1.2mm cannot be stitched as its own satin column; it has to be widened or dropped.
- Fewer colours, better result. Every extra colour is a thread change, a trim and a chance for registration to drift.
- Flat beats subtle. Gradients, glows and soft shadows have no equivalent in thread and become banding.
- Check the stitch order. The simulator plays it back so you can see the sequence before you sew it.
Already have the vector?
If whoever designed the artwork can send you the SVG, AI, EPS or PDF, use that instead. Converting from vector skips the whole business of inferring edges from pixels, and the difference is visible in the finished stitch-out. See SVG to embroidery.
Common questions
Does my PNG need a transparent background?
It helps but is not required. A transparent PNG converts with no extra step because the converter reads the alpha channel and only stitches the artwork. A PNG on a solid background needs background removal first, or that background becomes stitches.
Does DST keep my thread colours?
No, and no converter can change that — the format has nowhere to put them. A DST records stitches and the stops between them, so the operator loads the threads. Every DST exported here comes with a thread sequence list naming the colours in stitching order.
Why do embroidery shops ask for DST?
Because it loads on almost anything. DST carries nothing brand-specific, which is exactly why nearly every machine reads it, and shops assign thread from their own stock regardless of what a file claims.
What is actually inside a DST file?
A fixed 512-byte header holding the design name, the stitch and colour-change counts and the design's extents, then three bytes per stitch. That is the whole format, which is both why it is so portable and why it has nowhere to record a colour.
Is it free?
Yes, to start. A free account converts up to three designs a day at up to three thread colours and three inches, with every export format available. Premium lifts the colour and size limits and raises the daily allowance.
Related converters
Already have an embroidery file in the wrong format? That is a different job — no digitizing needed, just a re-encode. Use the embroidery file converter. Working with text rather than artwork? Browse the embroidery fonts.