An embroidery machine does not need to know all the properties of a design, simply where to move the hoop to and when to drive the needle and of course when to insert a color change, thread trim, tie off, tie in etc.
In fact the file is a long list of stitch co-ordinates that are unrelated. In its pure form if a .dst file is made larger then the stitch spacing is increased without any adjustment to the stitch count.
Conversely if the design is reduced in size the spacing and stitch length is compressed and the same number of stitches are included in the design.
I am sure we have all experienced those stitch outs that are as stiff as a board, this is the reason.