exFAT

exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is a file system introduced by Microsoft in 2006 and optimized for flash memory such as USB flash drives and SD cards. exFAT is proprietary, and Microsoft owns patents on several elements of its design. exFAT can be used where NTFS is not a feasible solution (due to data-structure overhead), but a greater file-size limit than the standard FAT32 file system (i.e. 4 GiB) is required. exFAT has been adopted by the SD Card Association as the default file system for SDXC cards larger than 32 GiB. In 2013 Samsung published under GPL a Linux driver for exFAT. exFAT was first introduced in late 2006 as part of Windows CE 6.0, an embedded Windows operating system. Most of the vendors signing on for licenses of exFAT are either for embedded systems or device manufacturers that produce media that will be preformatted with exFAT. The entire File Allocation Table (FAT) family, exFAT included, is used for embedded systems because it is lightweight and is better suited for solutions that have low memory and low power requirements, and can be easily implemented in firmware.