DST File Viewer
A DST file is Tajima’s embroidery machine format — a list of stitch instructions with no picture and no colour data. Drop one in and see the actual stitch pattern rendered, along with size, stitch count and colour-block count. Everything runs on your device; the file is never uploaded.
Structurally, a DST file is a 512-byte text header (design name, stitch count, colour-change count, the bounding box) followed by a run of 3-byte records, each one a stitch command: move this far in x and y, and either stitch, jump (travel without stitching, for moving between shapes), or stop for a colour change. There's no field anywhere in that format for a colour — not a name, not an RGB value, not even a swatch index — which is why this viewer labels colour blocks “Block 1, Block 2” instead of naming a thread. If you need the real colours a design uses, you need a PES file instead; see the PES viewer.
This viewer reads every one of those records and reports what they mean for production: design size in millimetres and inches, total stitch count, how many jumps and trims the design has (more of either usually means more machine time), and how many colour-change stops it contains. Those numbers translate directly to a patch order — stitch count is the single biggest driver of embroidered patch price, so the price block below updates from the real count the moment your file loads, not an estimate. Design size rounds to the nearest half-inch patch size; anything over 12" in either dimension is flagged, since that's past what a single patch can be — run it through the stitch count calculator to compare sizes, or just ask us.
Drop a DST file here
Up to 10 MB. Parsed on this page — nothing is uploaded.
Want this design as a patch? Drop your file above — you'll see the price at 50, 100 and 500 pieces, then get a mockup in 24 h.
Your file stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded unless you choose to attach it to a quote.
Have a PES file instead? See the PES viewer — or use the DST ↔ PES converter to go between the two, or the stitch count calculator if you don't have a file yet. Every design here is priced as a custom embroidered patch — get one digitized from a logo with embroidery digitizing, or read up on stitch types, thread weight and digitizing in the glossary.
DST viewer questions
- Is this DST viewer free?
- Yes, completely free, with no signup and no limit on how many files you open. We built it because digitizers, embroidery shops and resellers open DST files every day, and most of them reach for heavy desktop software to do it.
- Is my file uploaded?
- No. The file is read and rendered entirely in your browser — it is parsed on your device and never sent to our servers. You can turn your network off after the page loads and the viewer keeps working. Nothing is uploaded unless you choose to attach the file to a quote request.
- What can a DST file tell me?
- Design size in millimetres and inches, total stitch count, jump and trim count, and colour change count. What it cannot tell you is which colours were used — DST is a stitch-instruction format with no colour data at all, so colour blocks show as numbered blocks rather than named threads. A PES file carries colour data; a DST file does not.
- Can I convert this DST file to PES?
- Yes — use the DST ↔ PES converter, the same engine this viewer uses. Converting DST to PES has to assign colours to each block, since DST never recorded any; converting PES to DST does the reverse and drops the colour data, replacing it with plain colour-change stops, which is what DST actually understands.
- Why does my DST file show no colours?
- Because DST never stored any. It's a pure stitch-instruction format from Tajima machines — a sequence of x/y moves, jumps, trims and colour-change stops, no palette, no swatches. A colour change stop tells the machine "pause here, the operator will thread a new colour," but not which one. That's why this viewer numbers the colour blocks instead of naming them, and why a shop that only has your DST has to ask you what the thread colours actually are.
- How do I get a DST file from my logo?
- A logo (PNG, JPG, SVG, AI, PDF) has to be digitized — turned into an ordered set of stitch instructions by a person or software trained to do it, not just traced. Our digitizing team does this in-house; see embroidery digitizing for how it works and what it costs.
- Can you make patches from my DST?
- Yes — DST is exactly what we need to run embroidery on our machines. Drop your file above, and "Get this quoted" carries the stitch count and the file itself straight into our quote form at your chosen quantity.
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