Revision as of 14:45, 30 March 2024 by Dardel (talk | contribs) (Clarify SDXC cards can be formatted to fat32 just fine)
exFAT on Switch
For all versions after 1.0.0, the Switch has been able to support exFAT microSD cards through the use of an update provided by Nintendo. If an exFAT microSD card is inserted without the exFAT update installed, the Switch will display the system update prompt, even if the Switch is on the latest firmware version.
Reasons not to use exFAT
Despite the 4GiB file size limitation of FAT32, exFAT is not recommended for multiple reasons:
- Attempting to boot CFW using an exFAT formatted SD card without the exFAT update installed will fail.
- The exFAT driver used by the Switch operating system is prone to causing corruption.
- Even with large games and exFAT, Nintendo doesn't use files larger than 4GiB.
Out of the box, SDXC cards (64GB+) are formatted to exFAT. However, you can format any SD card to FAT32 just fine. See Formatting an SD card.