OEF and OED files

Overview

The Open Embroidery Format (OEF) is an open file format for embroidery, in two kinds of file:

• .oef font files hold an embroidery alphabet: its letters, spacing, kerning and sizes.
• .oed design files hold a design as its embroidery objects (lettering, satin columns, fills, runs), usually with the finished stitches saved alongside.

ThreadReady keeps every font in your library as an .oef, and every order as an .oed, beside the files you upload and the machine files you sew.

Why an open format

Embroidery work is usually saved in one of two kinds of file, and neither is good for keeping your work:

• Machine files (DST, PES, JEF, EXP and the rest) hold needle points. Every machine sews them, but they have lost the design: a satin column is just thousands of points, so it can't be resized or re-sewn cleanly.
• Working files and fonts (each program's own design format, and fonts such as BX) keep the objects, but each belongs to one program, is often undocumented, and is sometimes encrypted. A design or a font you paid for is tied to that program.

OEF keeps the objects and is documented for anyone to read and write. Nothing in an OEF file is encrypted or hidden, and anyone may build a program that reads it, free.

What is inside

Olivia-Rose.oed

Design file

• mimetypesays “this is an OEF design”
• manifest.jsonthe list of parts and the program that wrote it
• metadata.jsontitle, author, licence and where it came from
• design.jsonthe objects: lettering, satin columns, fills, runs
• stitches.binthe finished stitches, ready to sew (optional)
• thumbnail.pnga preview picture (optional)

Script.oef

Font file

• mimetypesays “this is an OEF font”
• manifest.jsonthe list of parts and the program that wrote it
• metadata.jsonname, designer, licence and where it came from
• font.jsonthe letters, their spacing, kerning and sizes
• stitches.binletters stitched at fixed sizes (optional)
• thumbnail.pnga sample of the font (optional)

An .oef or .oed is a ZIP file of plain JSON documents. You can look inside one yourself: copy it, rename the copy to end in .zip, and open it. metadata.json shows the title, the designer, the licence and where the file came from.

• An .oef font can hold its letters as objects, which are re-sewn at any height, as stitches made at fixed sizes, or both.
• An .oed design holds the objects and, usually, their finished stitches, so a program that can't sew the objects itself can still show and sew the design.

Where you'll see them in ThreadReady

• Every font you upload gets an .oef copy. A BX font is converted a moment after upload and checked to sew exactly like the BX; everything in ThreadReady then sews from that copy. On the font's page, Download as .oef gives you the copy (with finished stitches at the font's own size, for programs that can't re-sew it), and Download the BX gives you your original file. See Previewing a font.
• You can upload .oef fonts under Designs → Fonts → Upload fonts, like BX files.
• Fonts made from letter files are saved as .oef. A font you import from a pack of stitch files has no BX, only its .oef (see Font packs and Make your own font from stitch files).
• Every order downloads as an .oed, next to its machine files: one part per field of the design, with what the customer typed and the font each was sewn in. See Managing orders.
• You can add .oed designs to your design library, like a DST or PES (see Design library).

Can my machine sew an .oed?

No. Machines sew machine formats, so send the order's DST, PES or JEF to the machine as usual. An .oed is for keeping, editing and moving a design between programs. That is also why it is never your shop's machine format or in the order queue's ZIP download.

Which programs open them

OEF is new: the specification is a working draft (version 0.1) and may still change before version 1.0. ThreadReady reads and writes it today. The specification is licensed so that any embroidery program can add support, and an .oef or .oed you download now records the version it was written in.

Licences carry over

Converting a font or a design to OEF doesn't change who owns it or what its licence allows. If a font's licence lets you use it only in your own shop, the same goes for its .oef. Every file ThreadReady writes says so in its metadata.json, along with what the original file stated about its publisher and use, so whoever opens it next sees the same terms.

Related

• What are BX fonts?
• Fonts: uploading, previewing and downloading fonts.