ART

Status

What it is

ART is a Bernina format often treated by users as a machine file, but many ART versions are native or object-rich working files tied to Bernina software.

Satin Studio behavior

Satin Studio documents this format for identification and inspection. It does not open or export the file.

Versions and variants

ART is especially version-sensitive. Some versions behave like native working files with editable objects rather than only final stitches.

File identification notes

Reported ART-family files can use a compound-file style container with separate internal data streams for summary information, design information, compressed stitch/content data, and design-icon bitmap data.

Observed structure notes

• ART-family files have been reported as compound-document containers rather than flat stitch streams.
• One observed research path opens a stream named Contents, skips a four-byte size field, applies a byte transform based on 0xD2, then zlib-decompresses the result. That is a lead, not a complete ART version specification.
• Because ART versions can contain editable Bernina objects, stitch extraction alone is not enough for a faithful import.

Structure sketch

ART is version-sensitive and object-rich. Treat the structure as a container until a specific ART version is identified.

struct ArtContainer<'a> {
    compound_header: &'a [u8],         // reported compound-file style container
    streams: &'a [ArtStream<'a>],      // summary, design, compressed content, icon data
}

struct ArtStream<'a> {
    name: &'a str,
    payload: &'a [u8],
}

Compatibility evidence

The notes above help identify and inspect the format; they do not imply import or export support. Keep the original file and record the machine and software that produced it.