description | ms.assetid | title | ms.topic | ms.date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tables that list functionality and feature support comparisons for the four main Windows file systems, NTFS, exFAT, UDF, and FAT32. |
28cf2805-f1ce-46b4-bf08-a329f67f4d99 |
File System Functionality Comparison |
article |
05/31/2018 |
The following tables list functionality and feature support comparisons for the four main Windows file systems, NTFS, exFAT, UDF, and FAT32:
- Functionality
- Limits
- Journaling and Change Log
- Block Allocation Features
- Security
- Compression
- Quotas
- Single-Instance Store
- Related topics
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Creation time stamps |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Last access time stamps |
No (see note below) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes (date only) |
Last change time stamps |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Last archive time stamps |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Case-sensitive |
Yes (option) |
No |
Yes |
No |
Case-preserving |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Hard links |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Soft links |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Sparse files |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Named streams |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Oplocks |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Extended attributes |
Yes |
No |
Yes (on-disk only) |
No |
Alternate data streams |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Mount points |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: The NTFS last access time stamp field is updated.
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Maximum file name length |
255 Unicode characters |
255 Unicode characters |
127 Unicode or 254 ASCII characters |
255 Unicode characters |
Maximum path name length |
32,760 Unicode characters with each path component no more than 255 characters |
32,760 Unicode characters with each path component no more than 255 characters |
32,760 Unicode characters with each path component no more than 255 characters |
32,760 Unicode characters with each path component no more than 255 characters |
Maximum file size |
2^64–1 bytes |
2^64–1 bytes |
2^64–1 bytes |
4 GiB |
Maximum volume size |
16 TB (4 KB Cluster Size) or 256TB (64 KB Cluster Size) |
2^32–1 clusters (Maximum cluster size = 2^25–1) |
2^32 blocks |
2^32 blocks |
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Metadata-only journaling |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
File change log |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tail packing |
Yes (small files are made resident in the MFT stream descriptor) |
No |
No |
No |
Extents |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Variable block size |
No (set by the volume) |
No |
No |
No |
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Track file owner |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
POSIX file permissions |
No (available in POSIX subsystem feature) |
No |
Yes |
No |
Access control lists |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
File system level encryption |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Checksum/ECC |
No |
Metadata |
Metadata |
No |
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Built-in compression |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
User-level disk space |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Directory-level disk space |
No (see note below) |
No |
No |
No |
Note The directory-level disk space quotas feature on NTFS is available through the File Server Resource Manager.
Feature | NTFS | exFAT | UDF | FAT32 |
---|---|---|---|---|
File level |
No (see note below) |
No |
No |
No |
Note Single-instance store for NTFS is available as part of the Single Instance Storage feature in Windows Server.