Video Recording limited to 3.7 GB

[jambroseus]

Hi,
My video recording never exceeds 3.7 GB , it always breaks at that point and starts a new file. Is there a way to increase this?
Thanks,
John

 

[Repaid1]

No, it's a normal thing....it has been discussed for ever and a day, so I won't go into it again..google for the reason. Just note a simple editor will join all files into one and it won't skip a frame.

 

[gemniii]

It's a FAT limit, File Allocation Table

 

[msinger]

Is there a way to increase this?

No.

 

[Johnmcl7]

It's a FAT limit, File Allocation Table

Not in this case since the same issue occurs if the card is formatted to exfat which doesn't have that limit, I'm mentioning this so people don't try changing the format on their card thinking it will resolve the issue. In this case the cause is a 32-bit limitation within the video file which as msinger has mentioned, can't be increased on the current Mavics.

 

[Todd Clarke]

If you re-format your card to the exFAT standard (On a Mac in Disk Utility) you’ll have no file size limits. I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 3.7gb myself, I tend to do video to start the flight, find a good location and switch to photos to experiment with exposures etc, then switch back to video for the return journey. What are you shooting in? 4K 60fps??

 

[Johnmcl7]

If you re-format your card to the exFAT standard (On a Mac in Disk Utility) you’ll have no file size limits. I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 3.7gb myself, I tend to do video to start the flight, find a good location and switch to photos to experiment with exposures etc, then switch back to video for the return journey. What are you shooting in? 4K 60fps??

You'll still hit the 3.7GB limit for video because it's nothing to do with the card format as I've explained above.

 

[msinger]

I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 3.7gb myself

Of course you didn't. It's not possible

 

[MavicMan64]

Yes it's a 32 bit limitation and cannot format to NTFS which is 64 bit standard. Hopefully this will changes someday. I hate having my vids broken apart.

 

[fullbore]

What video editor is recommended (IOS or PC)?

 

[DanMan32]

Yes it's a 32 bit limitation and cannot format to NTFS which is 64 bit standard. Hopefully this will changes someday. I hate having my vids broken apart.

ExFAT is also 64 bit.
The issue is that the algorithm DJI uses chooses to stay with the lowest common denominator and that's FAT32's 4GB file size limitation.

NTFS is a totally different file system and as far as I'm aware, still Microsoft proprietary. Besides many systems don't support NTFS and DJI needs to use a file system most compatible with most systems.

 

[msinger]

What video editor is recommended (IOS or PC)?

You can find a list of commonly used video editors here.

 

[Johnmcl7]

ExFAT is also 64 bit.
The issue is that the algorithm DJI uses chooses to stay with the lowest common denominator and that's FAT32's 4GB file size limitation.

NTFS is a totally different file system and as far as I'm aware, still Microsoft proprietary. Besides many systems don't support NTFS and DJI needs to use a file system most compatible with most systems.

It's nothing to do with FAT32. exfat or NTFS file limitations, the limit is the way the video file is encoded so even though the drone supports exfat which doesn't have the 4GB file size limit you'll still have the video file limit. I don't know how much of AOSP the Mavics use as I'm not at all familiar with their software but there is a 3.7GB mp4 limit in Android and talk about it being changed to 64-bit for Android 11.

 

[eaglesurfing]

Next to posts about batteries, I think this subject rates up there with batteries. This forum has a great search option and you can find this subject easily.

Oh by the way...... Welcome to the forum.
I probably missed doing that before.

 

[fullbore]

You can find a list of commonly used video editors here.

Fantastic, thanks!

 

[DanMan32]

It's nothing to do with FAT32. exfat or NTFS file limitations, the limit is the way the video file is encoded so even though the drone supports exfat which doesn't have the 4GB file size limit you'll still have the video file limit. I don't know how much of AOSP the Mavics use as I'm not at all familiar with their software but there is a 3.7GB mp4 limit in Android and talk about it being changed to 64-bit for Android 11.

I wouldn't quite say it has NOTHING to do with the file system. I'm sure the Android limitation was influenced by the FAT32 limitation.

DJI is using Linux or Android in the AC.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I wouldn't quite say it has NOTHING to do with the file system. I'm sure the Android limitation was influenced by the FAT32 limitation.

DJI is using Linux or Android in the AC.

It has nothing to do with the filesystem, the limitation is due to 32-bit addressing within the video file and the reason the FAT32 limit is also the same is due to a 32-bit limitation. You can read the AOSP entry here:

https://android-review.googlesource.com/c/platform/frameworks/av/+/1198379

I'm well aware the Mavics use Android which is why I said that in the post you quoted and why I mentioned that it's something that may be changed in future AOSP releases.

The reason I'm emphasising this is because people waste time changing to the exFAT file system believing this will resolve the limitation which it doesn't because it's not a file system limitation.

 

[DanMan32]

Well most of us knew for a long time using ExFAT formats doesn't change things. It was thought it was because DJI was too lazy to switch file processing with a more capable file system, since they still have to support FAT32.

Turns out Google is the lazy one.
And it may be they stuck with 32 bit for the video encode because they still had to support FAT32, hence my saying that FAT32 still could have something to do with it. It likely was the influence.