exFAT or Extensible File Allocation Table is a file system introduced in 2006 by Microsoft. exFAT is mainly designed and optimized for flash memory, USB flash drives, and SD cards. exFAT can be used alternative to NTFS and FAT file systems to lift performance and size limits. Actually, exFAT32 is an advanced version of the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems and provides fewer features than NTFS. Simply exFAT sits between FAT16/FAT32 and NTFS filesystems.
exFAT History
ExFAT can be used where NTFS is not a feasible solution (due to data-structure overhead), but a greater file-size limit than the standard FAT32 file system (i.e. 4 GB) is required. ExFAT has been adopted by the SD Association as the default file system for SDXC cards larger than 32 GB. (EX tended F ile A llocation T able) An enhanced version of the FAT file system from Microsoft that was introduced in 2006 with Windows CE and Windows Vista (SP1). ExFAT extends the maximum Windows. The exFAT file system is the successor to FAT32 in the FAT family of file systems. This specification describes the exFAT file system and provides all the information.
exFAT is created in late 2006 as a feature of the Windows CE 6.0 mobile and embedded operating system. Using handbrake to rip dvd. Then other operating systems and platforms like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7/8/10, Windows Server 2008, Linux, MacOS X 10.6.5 supported this file system.
exFAT Features
exFAT provides different features and limits than other Microsoft based file systems like NTFS and FAT.
- The file size limit is 16 exbibytes which are very high for the current date.
- exFAT support 2,796,202 files per directory even Microsoft specifies it as 65,534.
- A partition like C: can hold 4,294,967,285 files without a problem.
- Improved 'Free-space allocation' with 'free space bitmap'.
- 10 ms timestamp granularity which is faster than FAT.
- Better and higher file name formatting.
Advantages Of exFAT
exFAT provides a lot of advantages for different use cases. Below you can find major advantages of the exFAT file system.
- exFAT is a lightweight file system that needs very low hardware resources and can be run restricted and low resource devices.
- exFAT supports drive or storage up to 128 pebibytes which is very huge.
- exFAT supports file sizes up to 16 exbibytes which is more than the partition size limit. So a file can be 128 pebibytes for a file.
- exFAT is compatible with a lot of different operating systems, platforms like Windows Embedded CE 6.0, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 (except Windows Server 2008 Server Core), Windows 10, and Mac OS X starting from 10.6.5, Android 6 and later versions. Also devices like cameras, smartphones, gaming console, embedded devices.
- Faster than file systems like FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Ext4.
- exFAT is optimized for Flash-based storage or disk drives where provides very high performance.
Disadvantages of exFAT
Even exFAT provides a lot of advantages there are some disadvantages actually which is not positive for the exFAT file system.
- exFAT do not supports journalling which is a must for mainstream file systems which are used for enterprise systems. Journalling will stores actions about files and prevent accidential corruptions.
- exFAT does not support encryption security feature which is a must for the enterprise-level file systems.
exFAT Is Cross-Platform
exFAT is a simply file system which will result a better support for other operating systems and platforms than Windows. exFAT is supported by different operating systems and platforms like Android, Linux, Kali, Ubuntu, Debian, MacOSX, iPad, iPhone etc.
Linux provides the exfat-fuse and exfat-utils Bluestacks combo key. packages to work with exFAT file systems. These utilities can be installed for Ubuntu with the following command.
exFAT Device Support
exFAT is supported and used with the following devices and platforms:
- Windows Embedded CE 6.0
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista with Service Pack 1
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows Server 2008 R2 (except Windows Server 2008 Server Core)
- Windows 10
- Mac OS X starting from 10.6.5
- Android 6 and later versions
- Cameras
- Smartphones
- Gaming console
- Embedded devices
- Smart TV
- Smart Home Devices
Create exFAT FileSystem In Windows
Windows Exfat Support
We can create an exFAT filesystem easily after plugging the USB Flash drive we will right-click on it and click to Format . Following menu will be listed where we will select exFAT as 'File system'. The last step is pressing the 'Start' button.
Exfat File System Vs Fat32
Create exFAT FileSystem In Linux
Exfat File System Windows 10
Linux supports exFAT. In order to use exFAT with Linux the exfat-fuse and exfat-utils packages should be installed. We can then create an exFAT filesystem for Linux with the 'mkfs.exfat' command like below.
exFAT Performance vs FAT32 and NTFS
As stated previously exFAT provides very good performance according to the FAT32 and NTFS filesystems. exFAT is especially designed for USB Drives, Flash Disk for higher performance. The biggest performance advantage for exFAT is not journalling which will make extra overload for other file systems FAT32 and NTFS. In general exFAT provides %20 better performance for write operating and very similar performance for read operation.
exFAT Alternatives
Exfat File System Driver - Windows 10
Well, you may be looking for an alternative for the exFAT filesystem. But there is no better alternative for the exFAT file system which provides a lot of features compatibility and cross-platform is one of them. But alternative FAT32 can be used for exFAT even it can not better than exFAT.
Is ExFAT The Same As Fat32?
The name of the exFAT and Fat32 is similar where both of them contains the word FAT . You may ask if is the exFAT the same as FAT32. exFAT and FAT32 are not the same but the exFAT is an update to the FAT32 file system with modern features. We may call that FAT32 +NTFS = exFAT in general.
Can MacOSX Read ExFAT?
Ntfs Vs Fat32 Vs Exfat For Usb
MacOS X is a Unix based operating system and ExFAT is Microsoft or windows based file system. The question is 'Can MacOSX read exFAT?'. Yes, the MacOSX or Mac can read even write to the ExFAT file system. The exFAT is natively supported by modern MacOSX operating systems.
Can Windows Read ExFAT?
As a file system created for the Windows operating systems the ExFAT can be read/write in windows operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019. Video editing programs for windows.
