Comparison of memory cards
This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards,.
Common information
| Card family | Standards organizations | Varieties | Entry date | Maximum commercially available capacity | Picture | Main features |
| CompactFlash | SanDisk | I | 1994 | 512 GB, flash only, now up to 512 GB, although standard goes up to 128 PB since CF 5.0 | ||
| CompactFlash | SanDisk | II | 1994 | 512 GB, older flash, but usually Microdrives, up to 128 PiB | ||
| CFexpress | CompactFlash Association | 1.0 | 2017 | 1TB | XQD form factor, PCIe 3.0 x2, NVMe | |
| CFexpress | CompactFlash Association | - | - | - | - | PCIe 3.0 x8, NVMe |
| SmartMedia | Toshiba | 3.3/5 V | 1995 | 128 MB | Very slim, no wear leveling controller, up to 128 MB. This particular example shows the write protect sticker. | |
| MultiMediaCard | Siemens AG, SanDisk | MMC | 1997 | 16 GB | Slim and small, up to 16 GB | |
| MultiMediaCard | Siemens AG, SanDisk | RS-MMC/MMC Mobile | 2003/2005 | 16 GB | Compact, up to 16 GB | |
| MultiMediaCard | Siemens AG, SanDisk | MMCplus | 2005 | 16 GB | Compact, swifter, optional DRM, up to 16 GB | |
| MultiMediaCard | Siemens AG, SanDisk | MMCmicro | 2005 | 4 GB | Subcompact, optional DRM, 16 MB to 4 GB | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | SD | 1999 | 4 GB | Small, DRM, up to 4 GB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | miniSD | 2003 | 4 GB | Compact, DRM, up to 4 GB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | microSD | 2005 | 4 GB | Subcompact, DRM, up to 4 GB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | SDHC | 2006 | 32 GB | Same build as SD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | miniSDHC | 2008 | 32 GB | Same build as miniSD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB. 8 GB is largest in early-2011. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | microSDHC | 2007 | 32 GB | Same build as microSD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | SDXC | 2009 | 1 TB | Same build as SD/SDHC, but greater capacity and transfer speed, 32 GB and higher. Standard goes up to 2 TB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | microSDXC | 2009 | 1 TB | Same build as microSD/microSDHC, but greater capacity and transfer speed, 32 GB and higher. Standard goes up to 2 TB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | SDUC | 2018 | 64 GB | Same build as SD/SDHC/SDXC, but greater capacity and transfer speed. Standard goes up to 128 TB. | |
| Secure Digital | Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba, Kodak | microSDUC | 2018 | ? | Same build as microSD/microSDHC/microSDXC, but greater capacity and transfer speed. Standard goes up to 128 TB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | Standard | 1998 | 128 MB | Slim and narrow, optional DRM, up to 128 MB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | PRO | 2003 | 4 GB | Slim and narrow, swifter, optional DRM, up to 4 GB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | Duo | 2003 | 128 MB | Compact, optional DRM, up to 128 MB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | PRO Duo | 2002-2006 | 32 GB | Compact, optional DRM, up to 32 GB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | PRO-HG Duo | 2007-2008 | 32 GB | Compact, swifter, optional DRM, up to 32 GB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony/SanDisk | Micro | 2006 | 16 GB | Subcompact, optional DRM, up to 16 GB | |
| Memory Stick | Sony | PS Vita Memory Card | 2012 | 64 GB | Subcompact, compulsory DRM, up to 64 GB, proprietary | |
| XQD | Sandisk, Sony, Nikon, CompactFlash Association | Standard | 2011-2012 | >2 TB | High-capacity, high-speed standard using PCIe as interface | |
| xD | Olympus, Fujifilm | Standard | 2002-2007 | 512 MB | Slim and small, electrically identical to SmartMedia, no wear-leveling controller, up to 512 MB | |
| xD | Olympus, Fujifilm | Type M | 2005 | 2 GB | Slim and small but slower read/write, no wear-leveling controller, up to 2 GB | |
| xD | Olympus, Fujifilm | Type H | 2005 | 2 GB | Slim and small and swifter, no wear-leveling controller, up to 2 GB | |
| Universal Flash Storage Card Extensions | Samsung | UFS Card | 2016 | >256 GB | Packages the flash memory, currently soldered in shipping smartphones, into a removable card form factor. Uses the SCSI command set including queuing. The electrical interface makes use of differential signaling, which enables high bus speeds and robustness under noisy conditions and reduced pin count. | |
| USB flash drive | Various | USB 1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1 | 2000/2001 | 1 TB+ | Universally compatible across most non-mobile computer platforms, their greater size suits them better to file transfer/storage instead of use in portable devices |
Physical details
Note that a memory card's dimensions are determined while holding the card with contact pins upwards. The length of cards is often greater than their width. Most cards show a directional arrow to aid insertion; such an arrow should be upward.| Card | Width | Length | Thickness | Volume | Mass |
| CompactFlash, Type I | 43.0 | 36.0 | 3.3 | 5,108 | 3.3 |
| CompactFlash, Type II | 43.0 | 36.0 | 5.0 | 7,740 | |
| SmartMedia | 37.0 | 45.0 | 0.76 | 1,265 | 2.0 |
| MMC, MMCplus | 24.0 | 32.0 | 1.4 | 1,075 | 1.3 |
| RS-MMC, MMCmobile | 24.0 | 18.0 | 1.4 | 605 | 1.3 |
| MMCmicro | 14.0 | 12.0 | 1.1 | 185 | |
| SD, SDHC, SDXC, SDIO | 24.0 | 32.0 | 2.1 | 1,613 | 2.0 |
| miniSD, miniSDHC, miniSDIO | 20.0 | 21.5 | 1.4 | 602 | 1.0 |
| microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC | 11.0 | 15.0 | 1.0 | 165 | 0.27 |
| Memory Stick Standard, PRO | 21.5 | 50.0 | 2.8 | 3,010 | 4.0 |
| Memory Stick Duo, PRO Duo, PRO-HG, XC | 20.0 | 31.0 | 1.6 | 992 | 2.0 |
| Memory Stick Micro, XC | 12.5 | 15.0 | 1.2 | 225 | 2.0 |
| PS Vita Memory Card | 15 | 12.5 | 1.6 | 300 | 0.6 |
| XQD card | 38.5 | 29.8 | 3.8 | 4,360 | |
| xD | 25.0 | 20.0 | 1.78 | 890 | 2.8 |
| USB | varies | varies | varies | varies | varies |
Speed comparison
Technical details
Consumer details
Compatibility
The following chart gives details on availability of adapters to put a given card in a given slot or device. This table does not take into account protocol issues in communicating with the device.Following labels are used:
- + – A slot is native for such card.
- D – A card may be used in such a slot directly, without any adapters. Best possible compatibility.
- M – Such adapter is only a physical enclosure to fit one card sized into another; all electrical pins are exactly the same.
- EM – Such adapter features both physical enclosure and pins re-routing as terminals are sufficiently different. No powered elements in such adapter exists, thus they're very cheap and easy to manufacture and may be supplied as a bonus for every such card.
- E – These adapters must have components—potentially requiring external power—that transform signals, as well as physical enclosure and pin routing.
- X – Technically the same as E, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use.
- XM – Technically the same as EM, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use.
- Empty cell – Card cannot be used in such slot, no single adapter is known to exist. Sometimes a chain of adapters can help.