JEF — Janome Embroidery File
Open BetabetaJEF is the native file format of Janome embroidery machines: a binary file with a 116-byte header (hoop size, thread colors, design bounds) followed by stitch data. On osm2cdr.ru a map turns into embroidery line by line — roads, water outlines, greenery and building contours are traced with a running stitch along the geometry. This is not satin fill but a running-stitch baseline — an honest starting point for a Janome machine or for refinement in an editor. Thread color is assigned per layer using Janome standard palette indices.
Key Features
About JEF Format
JEF is the format of Janome embroidery machines: a binary file holding the design dimensions, the hoop size, the thread palette and the stitch stream itself. The machine reads it from a drive and sews exactly what is written — no interpretation happens on the spot.
A map is embroidered for the sake of an object: a pillowcase with the plan of your own district, a hoodie with the outline of a city, a wall piece as a gift. The geometry of streets and rivers suits this well — it is linear, and a stitch conveys it honestly.
Our export turns the map into a running stitch: road lines and the outlines of water, greenery and buildings are traced with stitching along the geometry. Thread color is assigned by layer type from the Janome palette, long runs are automatically broken into stitches of up to 12.1 mm, and the design is scaled to the chosen hoop with a margin of about five percent.
This is a blank, not a finished industrial design: there are no satin fills, polygons run as an outer outline only, and stitch density is not tuned to a particular fabric. Before serious work it is worth opening the file in an editor, checking the color order and sewing a test on a scrap.
What Program Opens JEF Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with JEF — Janome Embroidery File (.jef) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Proprietary format
- 2D only
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- No attributes
- Output: 1 file
- A Janome JEF embroidery file: a 116-byte header plus running-stitch data tracing map lines and outlines, per-layer Janome palette colors, segments split at 12.1 mm.
Who Uses JEF Maps
How to Export JEF
How to Open After Export
- A Janome machine (Memory Craft, Skyline, Continental) — write the .jef onto a USB drive and open the design on the machine's screen; check that the dimensions fit the hoop.
- Janome Digitizer — the native editor: editing the color order, adding fills, changing stitch density.
- Inkscape with the Ink/Stitch extension (free) — watch a stitch-out simulation, adjust the stitches and, if you like, re-save into another machine format.
- Embird, Hatch Embroidery, SewWhat-Pro — viewing and editing, if you already have one of these packages.
- A test before the finished item — sew the design on a scrap with the same stabilizer: on a dense map you will see immediately where the stitching lies too tight and pulls the fabric.
Popular maps in JEF
Get JEF — Janome Embroidery File map exports
Download professional JEF maps from OpenStreetMap. Instant generation, any area.