What’s Max Size of FAT32 File Limit & How to Break

What’s the max size of FAT 32 file?

If you have some basic information about the file system, then you would know there is more than one kind of file system that can be used on your PC. So, first, let’s simply learn more about file systems.

▶ FAT family
There’s not only FAT32 but FAT12 and FAT16. The FAT file system is a simple and robust legacy file system. It provides good performance even in very lightweight implementations, but it can no longer match the performance, reliability, and scalability of some modern file systems because of the limits we show in the following picture.

▶ Limits of FAT32
As you can see in the picture, FAT32 also has size limits like its families. A single FAT32 file can have a maximum file size of 4GB. When attempting to transfer files larger than 4GB to a FAT32 formatted drive, you may encounter an error that shows that the file is too large. Furthermore, FAT32 has a maximum volume size of 2TB. If a drive is larger than 2TB, it is usually not possible to format it as a single FAT32 partition.

How to break max size of FAT32 file

The size limits of FAT32 now have hindered people's daily use of modern PC. Many users are seeking methods to break the size limit. Thus, Microsoft developed the NTFS for modern systems, a newer file system quite different from FAT32.

With the NTFS file system, users can handle large files on their drives. And its great compatibility allows users to use it on many new systems. Therefore, to break out the FAT32 partition size limit and file size limit, you can convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS.

In this part, we’ll show you how to convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS without losing data on the target drive with CMD and a file system conversion tool.

Opt. 1. Using Command Prompt to convert FAT32

Step 1. Press the “Windows”+ “R” to open the Run dialog box and type “cmd” to open the command prompt window.

Step 2. In the CMD window, type: convert drive: /fs:ntfs (eg.: convert e: /fs:ntfs) and press “Enter” to execute this command.

Opt. 2. Using file system converter to convert to NTFS

If you don’t want to use CMD because you’re not familiar with those orders, and you might need to back to FAT32 in the near days, then AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a nice choice.

It’s a free versatile Windows PC manager for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP users. The function “Convert to NTFS/FAT32” can convert the file system between these two kinds without formatting, so your data on the drive is totally safe.

Step 1. Install and launch this software. Right-click the FAT32 partition and choose “Advanced” and ”Convert to NTFS”.

Step 2. Click “OK” to continue.

Step 3. Click on “Apply” to commit the pending operation.

Then the drive will be an NTFS drive. And then you can transfer files large than 4GB to the target location.

Further knowledge: Can’t move the whole folder

After you converted to NTFS, you can start to move files freely. But, sometimes, Windows won’t allow you to move an entire folder from one drive to another. If you need to move a folder but the system rejects you, AOMEI Partition Assistant may help you. The “Move Folder” function can help you move folders to the target drive.

Step 1. On the main interface, right-click the target drive and choose "APP Mover" to enter the main interface of this function.

Step 2. In this window, select “Move Folder”. 

Step 3. Then select the folder you want to move and choose your SD card or USB as the new location. Then click “Move”.

Step 4. Select the folders you want to move, and choose a new location, click "Move".

Step 5. Click "OK" in the warning and click "Finish' to end the task.

Conclusion

Now you know the max size of FAT32 file and the ways to bypass the size limitations. Although CMD can convert FAT32 to NTFS, it can't go back to FAT32, and some users might not be willing to use commands. AOMEI Partition Assistant can perfectly solve these troubles for you. And it can also clone disk/ partition, extend partition, migrate OS, and more. And if you want to organize your Server machine, you can see more about the Server Edition.