PNG to EXP

Turn PNG into a stitch-ready EXP file for Melco and Bernina — free, in the browser, nothing to install.

One free conversion a day. Create an account for three.

What 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 EXP specifically

EXP is the most minimal target in the set: stitches and nothing else, with no header and no thread list. Your PNG's colours therefore live entirely in the sequence list exported beside the file. The upside of carrying nothing is portability — an EXP is about as likely to load on an unfamiliar Melco or Bernina as anything gets.

How to convert PNG to EXP

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 EXP. 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 EXP format

EXP is the native format for Melco and Bernina. EXP is stitches and nothing else — no header, no thread list. That makes it very portable and means the colour information lives in the sequence list we write beside it rather than in the file.

EXP does not store thread colours. That is the format, not the converter — it records stitches and the stops between them, and the operator loads the threads. Every EXP export comes with a thread sequence list naming the colours in stitching order, so nothing is lost, it just travels beside the file rather than inside it.

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 EXP store thread colours?

No. EXP is stitches with no header and no thread list at all, which is what makes it so portable. Your colours travel in the sequence list exported beside the file.

Which machines read EXP?

Melco and Bernina machines read it natively. Because the format carries no brand-specific metadata at all, it also tends to load on unfamiliar equipment more readily than a richer format would.

Is EXP the same as DST?

Similar in spirit, not identical. Both are stitch data with no thread list, but DST has a 512-byte header carrying the design name and stitch counts, whereas EXP has no header at all.

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

PNG to any format PNG to PES PNG to DST PNG to JEF PNG to SEW PNG to VP3 PNG to XXX

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.