Free online BMP to PES converter

An embroidery machine or design editor that requires .pes cannot use a .bmp image directly. The conversion is needed when a logo, drawing, or scanned design must be stitched by a Brother- or Baby Lock-compatible machine, and it requires digitizing the image into embroidery instructions.

What the BMP format is

BMP is a raster format that stores an image as colored pixels. Windows graphics tools, scanners, screenshots, and older desktop-publishing software commonly create BMP files. BMP may use uncompressed or compressed storage and can preserve sharp solid-color artwork, but it contains no stitch direction, thread sequence, underlay, density, pull compensation, or fabric information.

What the PES format is

PES is an embroidery design format used primarily by Brother and Baby Lock machines and supported by software such as Brother PE-Design, CanvasWorkspace, Hatch Embroidery, and Ink/Stitch. A PES file stores stitch coordinates, color blocks, thread changes, design dimensions, and format-specific embroidery metadata. It is useful for sending a digitized design to a compatible machine, but it is not an image format and is unsuitable for preserving photographic detail as practical embroidery.

A PES file is not created by changing a filename extension. The BMP's shapes must be converted into fill, satin, or running stitches, arranged in sewing order, and assigned thread colors and machine settings.

How to convert a BMP with desktop software

Ink/Stitch with Inkscape is a free option for manual digitizing and simple artwork:

1. Install current versions of Inkscape and the Ink/Stitch extension from their official websites.
2. In Inkscape, select File → Import and place the BMP. Use it as a visual reference rather than expecting a finished embroidery file from the import.
3. Trace each sewable region with closed vector paths or line objects. Remove backgrounds, antialiasing, shadows, gradients, noise, and details too small to stitch.
4. Assign an embroidery object type: fill stitches for broad areas, satin stitches for narrow columns and borders, and running stitches for outlines or fine lines.
5. Set thread colors, stitch angles, density, underlay, pull compensation, trims, and object order. Define the intended design dimensions and hoop before finalizing the stitch settings.
6. Run Extensions → Ink/Stitch → Simulator. Correct excessive jumps, unnecessary trims, tiny objects, gaps, and incorrect color-change order.
7. Use Extensions → Ink/Stitch → Embroider to export design.pes. Select the required PES output or version when that option is available, then confirm that the resulting design fits the target machine's hoop.

SewArt can import raster artwork and offers guided conversion into embroidery objects, making it more direct for simple logos. Hatch Embroidery Digitizer and Brother PE-Design provide bitmap-assisted recognition, manual editing, stitch simulation, machine settings, and PES export. With any of these programs, reduce a logo to a small, deliberate color palette and treat automatic digitizing as a starting point; inspect every object, stitch direction, density setting, and sequence manually.

Using an online service

General-purpose converters such as image-format websites can convert BMP to PNG or JPEG, but they do not digitize artwork and cannot produce a useful PES file. For an online workflow, use a specialist embroidery-digitizing service that explicitly accepts BMP and delivers PES, supplies a stitch preview or proof, and states its supported PES versions, hoop sizes, thread chart, revision policy, turnaround, and privacy terms. Do not upload proprietary artwork until the service's data-retention and ownership conditions are clear.

Quality and compatibility limits

• Use clean artwork with flat color boundaries and enough source resolution to trace accurately. Photographs, gradients, shadows, and very small text usually require substantial simplification or redesign.
• Choose the hoop and final size before digitizing. Substantially scaling a completed PES file changes the effective density and can distort satin columns; resize the artwork and recalculate stitches instead.
• Machine compatibility depends on hoop dimensions, PES revision, stitch count, color-change and trim limits, and the machine's supported thread commands. Save a machine-specific version when the software provides that option.
• A simulator can expose sequencing problems and jump stitches, but only a sewn test shows puckering, thread breaks, poor registration, unsuitable density, or inadequate stabilizer. Test on fabric and stabilizer matching the final project.
• Copying or renaming image.bmp as image.pes does not add stitch data and normally produces an invalid or unreadable file.