exFATjärjestelmä

exFATjärjestelmä (exFAT) is a flash‑friendly file system developed by Microsoft in 2006 as a successor to FAT32. It was designed to address the growing need for larger storage devices and high‑capacity memory cards used in digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players. By eliminating the 4 GB file size limit of FAT32, exFAT supports files up to 128 PB, making it suitable for modern external hard disks and SSDs.

The file system uses a more efficient allocation table structure and incorporates features that reduce fragmentation and improve performance on flash media. It supports read and write speeds up to 25 Mbit s⁻¹ and can be used on both Windows and macOS platforms without third‑party drivers. Many Android devices also recognize exFAT natively. Unlike NTFS, exFAT does not include built‑in encryption or compression, keeping its implementation lightweight.

exFATjärjestelmä gained widespread adoption due to its hardware‑friendly properties and compatibility across operating systems. It is commonly found on SDXC cards, USB flash drives, and external storage intended for use with multimedia devices. Some security‑critical environments avoid exFAT because of its limited support for access‑control lists and journaling, features present in NTFS and ext4. Nonetheless, exFAT remains the default file system for many removable storage solutions where large files and cross‑platform interoperability are required.