FAT32: What is it?
Related Videos: Difference Between FAT32, exFAT and NTFS (May 2024).
FAT32 is a file system developed by Microsoft. It is used on older Windows systems, USB sticks and alternative operating systems, among others.
The characteristics of FAT32
FAT32 is part of the FAT family of file systems developed by Microsoft. "FAT" stands for "File Allocation Table", which roughly means "file allocation table".
- Compared to the predecessor FAT16, the maximum size of the entire file system has been increased from two gigabytes to eight terabytes.
- The maximum size of a file on a FAT32 system is four gigabytes.
- Since non-Windows systems, such as OS X or Linux, also run with FAT32, it is often used on USB sticks and other portable storage media.
Together with Windows NT / 2000, Microsoft introduced the FAT32 successor NTFS. Here you can read the points in which the two systems differ.