File size
File size is a measure of how much
When a file is written to a
Maximum size
The maximum file size a file system supports depends not only on the capacity of the file system, but also on the number of
File system | Maximum size[a] |
---|---|
APFS
|
8 EB
|
exFAT | 16 EB - 1 byte |
FAT12
|
16 MB (4 KB clusters) or 32 MB (8 KB clusters) |
FAT16B
|
2 GB (without LFS) or 4 GB - 1 byte (with LFS) |
FAT32
|
4 GB - 1 byte |
HFS | 2 GB |
HFS+
|
8 EB |
HPFS | 2 GB |
NTFS | 16 EB - 1 KB |
Btrfs | 16 EB |
Units of information
A file system may display all sizes with the metric system with only 'kB' on small files indicating it, while some file systems/operating systems would display sizes in, the traditionally used on computers, binary system for all sizes, e.g. 'KB', while hard disk manufacturers use the metric system (for e.g. GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes and TB = 1000 GB).
Kilobyte (KB) (JEDEC), is sometimes referred to unambiguously as
File transfers (e.g. "downloads") may use rates of units of bytes (e.g. MB/s) in binary rather than metric system, while networking hardware, such as
See also
Notes
- ^ Based on the format standard, individual implementations may have different limits. See respective file system article for details.
References
- ^ JEDEC Solid State Technology Association (November 2019). "Terms, Definitions, and Letter Symbols for Microprocessors, and Memory Integrated Circuits". JESD 100B.01. p. 8. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ "What is Slack Space?". IT Pro. 2010-01-19. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
- ^ "Microsoft Extensible Firmware Initiative FAT32 File System Specification, FAT: General Overview of On-Disk Format". Microsoft. 2000-12-06. Retrieved 2011-07-03.