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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/tech-fat32-4gib-limit

Why won't a 6 GB video file copy to a USB stick formatted as FAT32?

FAT32 caps single files at 4 GiB.

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  1. The stick is too slow
  2. FAT32 caps single files at 4 GiB ✔
  3. The stick must be defragmented first

Why: FAT32 stores file sizes in 32 bits, so no single file can reach 4 GiB. The stick may have plenty of free space and still refuse. Reformatting as exFAT or NTFS removes the limit.

Huh, didn't know that: exFAT keeps FAT32's wide device support but allows files far larger than 4 GiB.

The dad joke
Why did the movie get rejected by the FAT32 drive? It was just too big for its britches.
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References

Answer: FAT32 caps single files at 4 GiB. FAT32 stores file sizes in 32 bits, so no single file can reach 4 GiB. The stick may have plenty of free space and still refuse. Reformatting as exFAT or NTFS removes the limit.

  1. Microsoft Learn: File system functionality comparison learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/filesystem-functionality-comparison
    Maximum file size 2^64-1 bytes 2^64-1 bytes 2^64-1 bytes 4 GiB
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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