1080p HD movies onto your Android SD card [fat32] [solutions]
Q. Hi. I read your 1080p phone/tablet MKV playback list and tested my SGS2 and you are right it works with 1080p MKVs amazing! Ā Really enjoy it. However, I only have a few 1080p things that fit under the 4GB limit of FAT32 š How can I get full 1080p HD movies onto my phone??? I don’t mind doing a little bit but I don’t want to re-encode a bunch. Thx! –AndroidMovieFan
NOTE: AndroidMoveFan is referring to theĀ limitations imposed by the FAT32 file system currently used to format SD cards for use on Android devices:
The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4Ā GB minusĀ 1 byteĀ orĀ 4 294 967 295Ā (232ā1) bytes. This limit is a consequence of the file length entry in theĀ directory table and would also affect huge FAT16 partitions with a sufficient sector size.[1] Video applications, large databases, and some other software easily exceed this limit. Larger files requireĀ another filesystem.Ā Wikipedia
A. Great question and I’m glad you are enjoying 1080p on your phone!Ā I totally understand not wanting to fully re-encode your movies to fit the 4GB limit, since it would take time and would degrade the video quality. So, here are a couple strategies you can try for full 1080p MKV files on your FAT32 SD card:
#1 Split your MKVs into < 4GB pieces easily and without re-encoding:
This is a nice, an relatively easy, method for taking large movies and simply splitting them (without re-encoding) to make them work within the FAT32 file size limitation.
#2 When you backup your BluRay discs, do it in a mannerĀ compatibleĀ with FAT32:
I do not recommend downloading this movie since that would be illegal, but you CAN just look at the file listing to see that it is an example of a movie that someone has backed up into (2) parts which will easily fit on FAT32Ā partitions!
![The Dark Knight 1080p [PS3 & fat32 Compatible]](http://www.jdhodges.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/tpblogo_sm_ny.gif)
The Dark Knight 1080p [PS3 & fat32 Compatible]http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6587991/The_Dark_Knight_1080p_%5BPS3__amp__fat32_Compatible%5DType: Video > Highres – Movies Files: 2 Size: 7.25Ā GiBĀ (7782985868Ā Bytes) Spoken language(s): English Tag(s): The Dark Knight Batman The Dark Knight The Darkā¦ (download torrent) – TPB
The.Dark.Knight.2008.1080p.x264.DTS-WAFHD.part1.mpg4Ā GiB
The.Dark.Knight.2008.1080p.x264.DTS-WAFHD.part2.mpg3.25Ā GiB
So, there you have it, a couple rudimentary options for getting your nice HD movies onto your sweet phone!
The future: better file system support for SD/SDHC/SDXC formatting
Android will likely eventually support other filesystems (ext2/ext3/ext4 etc.) that will make this all moot š
[end]
2011.10.01Ā Update from:Ā AndroidMovieFan
Q. Thank you for the tips! I tried #1 and it worked and I had no idea that #2 people were already encoding movies to get around this limitation! Thanks again šĀ Android rocks I just wish they had better SD card formatting š
A. You are very welcome, enjoy your movies on your phone š –JD
MISC LINKS : info on just what filesystems Android does support and misc links related to this struggle with video and FAT32…
Hi! i have a very similar problem but unfortunately none of these are solutions for my problem. i am downloading torrents on my android phone – for many reasons it works better for me than doing it on my PC. i am trying to download one which has some 8 gig files in it. i do get an error message that the file exceeds the limitations and im looking for a workaround..
Thanks in advance!
Mik
Hi Miki,
Thank you for your comment.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find aany way to successfully download files larger than 4GB on my Android phone or tablet. š
Of course there are all the solutions that use a PC (i.e. re-encoding, splitting the files, etc.) but of course that does not help if we want to exclusively use our Android phone! Hopefully soon Google will enable a new file system format on Android so that > 4GB files will easily be supported on today’s superphones. š
Best regards,
-JD
Just format your sd card to exFat…
Hi Brain,
Thank you for your ExFAT suggestion. Does this work on the latest stock Android releases, or are custom recovery/ROMs required to properly mount as USB and transfer > 4GB files?
Best regards,
-JD
Works fine on my novo 7 crystal with jelly bean stock rom on USB Host. Sd feature will be tested in a few days.
Hi Brain, this is great news! Thank you for the tip and I will update the article to reflect your input.
š
Best regards,
-JD
Hello, I enjoy reading all of your article. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
Dear Paul,
Thank for commenting! I am glad that you enjoy reading my articles and that the hopefully help you if you have a problem. Have a great day! š
Best regards,
-J.D.