Did you ever encounter Samsung smart TV USB format problem? In this situation, Samsung smart TV USB flash drive may not work, or it is not in compatible format. If so, you should read this post to know how to solve it.

About Samsung Smart TV USB Format

With the development of technology, more and more smart products appear. Nowadays, if you plan to buy a TV, you probably want to buy a smart TV.

What is smart TV? A smart TV applies Internet technology, has an open operating system and an open application platform, and can realize two-way human-computer interaction function. It integrates audio-visual, entertainment, data and other functions to meet the diversified and individual needs of users.

Samsung smart TV

On the smart TV, you can enjoy the ordinary TV content, web search, Internet TV, video on demand (VOD), digital music, online news, online video telephony, online games, and other various application services.

At the same time, you can install and uninstall application software on smart TV, and enjoy the video and audio content stored on your USB flash drive with a smart TV.

Every smart TV manufacturer is committed to giving viewers a better experience, and Samsung is no exception. Samsung smart TV is a popular smart TV product. It uses Tizen operating system, which is developed by Samsung based on Linux kernel.

Tizen system has advantages of no freeze in long-term use and no advertisement. But it also has an obvious defect that it doesn’t allow you to install software freely. But you can still make the best use of its large screen to enjoy the videos or photos on your USB flash drive.

Some of you might like to plug a USB flash drive into the Samsung smart TV USB port to view the content stored on the flash drive. However, the TV tells you the USB flash drive is not in a compatible format, or simply doesn’t recognise your USB drive. These symptoms may indicate Samsung smart TV USB format problem.

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Supported Samsung Smart TV USB Drive Format

Samsung divides its TVs into three types according to technology applied in screen: Samsung QLED smart UHD TV, Premium UHD TV, and Full HD TV.

In general, Samsung QLED and Samsung UHD TVs support FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems, while Full HD TV supports NTFS (read only), FAT32 and FAT16. These are the correct Samsung smart TV USB format.

Surely, you can check the exact supported Samsung smart TV file systems, Samsung smart TV USB video format, image format, and audio format in its notes and instructions interface. You can refer to the following brief tutorial.

  • Open “settings” option and skip to “supports”.
  • Open “instructions” and navigate to “notes and instructions”.
  • After entering “notes and instructions”, skip to “must read before playing photo, video, or music files”, and then you can know the supported Samsung smart TV USB format, video format, image format, and audio format.
Tip: If the Samsung smart TV can’t recognise your USB drive, you can also consider other situations. For example, the USB flash drive isn’t plugged into the USB (HDD) port, or the USB flash drive isn’t an MSC USB device.

Ift he Samsung smart TV can’t recognize the USB flash drive due to the incompatible format, you should convert the USB flash drive to a correct file system to solve Samsung smart TV USB format problem. The common method is reformatting.

Reformatting USB Drive to Solve Format Problem

You can reformat the USB flash drive on your computer. But before you reformat the USB drive, please back up the content on it in advance. If the files are few, you can use cut and paste feature in Windows. If there are a huge number of files, you can use copy partition feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard to back up files easily (this feature is free when you don’t use it to copy disks containing OS).

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Activate Copy Partition feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard.

  • Download MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to get its main interface.
  • Right-click the partition on the USB flash drive and choose Copy.

activate Copy Partition feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard

Step 2: Choose a destination location where the partition is copied to and click Next button.

Tip: The destination location must be unallocated space, otherwise the Next button is grayed out. You can choose a destination location on a hard drive. If there is not enough unallocated space, you can use Move/Resize feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard to shrink partition.

choose a destination location

Step 3: Adjust the size and location of the new partition and click Finish.

Tip: You can drag the left or right arrow to shrink or extend the size of the new partition. The smallest size of the new partition should be not less than the used space.

adjust the size and location of the new partition

Step 4: Preview the new partition and click Apply button if it’s OK.

click Apply button

And then, you can reformat the USB flash drive. As for the Samsung smart TV USB drive format tools, MiniTool Partition Wizard, Disk Management, File Explorer, and CMD are recommended.

Reformatting USB Drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is versed in disk management. You can use it to reformat the USB flash drive quickly.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Right-click the partition on USB flash drive and choose Format in the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard.

activate Format feature

Step 2: Choose a file system and click OK on the pop-up window.

Tip: You can choose FAT, NTFS or exFAT file system. But we suggest that you could choose NTFS or exFAT file system if the USB flash drive is used to store movies because FAT32 file system can’t support a single file exceeding 4GB and the video files often exceed this limitation.

choose a file system

Step 3: Click Apply button to carry out the pending operations.

This method is recommended first because sometimes Windows was unable to complete the format.

Reformatting USB Drive with Disk Management

Disk Management is a piece of built-in disk management software. You can reformat the USB flash drive in it. 

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Press “Windows + R” keys at the same time.

Step 2: Enter “diskmgmt.msc” in the Run box. And then press Enter key to open Disk Management.

Step 3: Right-click on the USB flash drive partition and click Format… from the context menu.

format USB flash drive partition in Disk Management

Step 4: Choose a proper file system and keep other parameters as default. Then, click OK button to start the reformatting process.

choose file system and click OK

Step 5: Click OK on the pop-up format warning window.

If the format did not complete successfully in Disk Management, you can try MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Reformatting USB Drive with File Explorer

This method is often used by many of you. You just need to right-click the USB flash drive in This PC and then choose Format… option. But this method is the most unsafe one because you don’t know the full information about the USB flash drive.

reformat USB flash drive in File Explorer

Reformatting USB Drive with Diskpart

This method is more complicated than other methods. You should carry out the following steps scrupulously.

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Open diskpart program.

  • Similarly, Press “Windows + R” keys simultaneously to open the Run
  • Type “cmd” in the Run box and press Enter key to open Command Prompt window.
  • Type command “diskpart” in cmd.exe input window and press Enter key to open diskpart.exe input window.

Step 2: Type the following commands in the diskpart.exe input window one by one.

  • list disk
  • select disk 4
  • list partition
  • select partition 1
  • format fs=fat32 quick
  • exit
Tip: You can confirm the USB flash drive according to the capacity. The disk number should be replaced accordingly. The above format command will format the partition to FAT32 file system. If you want to format the partition to exFAT or NTFS file system, you should replace “fat32” with “exfat” or “ntfs”. Besides, please wait until the formatting completion percentage reaches 100%.

format Samsung smart TV USB with command

After the reformatting, you can plug the USB flash drive into the Samsung smart TV to check whether the Samsung smart TV USB format problem is solved. If the problem is solved, you can move files back to the USB flash drive.

Convert File System between FAT and NTFS

As mentioned above, FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems are supported by Samsung smart TV. However, the FAT file system can’t support a single file exceeding 4GB. This may one of the reasons why you can’t write video files to the Samsung smart TV USB.

What’s the simplest way to format a USB stick and write some video files to it in order for the Samsung TV to read it? As far as I know Samsung TVs support the FAT format (or maybe ExFAT too), but if I format the USB to FAT then I can’t seem to be able to write to it (or even see it in Finder).   — apple.stackexchange.com

Tip: It is also possible that this problem is caused by unsupported Samsung smart TV USB video format.

If this problem is caused by the single file 4GB limitation of FAT file system, you can reformat the USB flash drive to exFAT file system, or you can try Convert FAT to NTFS feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert the USB flash drive to NTFS file system without data loss. This feature will not cause file deletion and it will retain original files so that you don’t need to back up data in advance.

Tip: If you want to convert FAT32 to exFAT or exFAT to FAT32, you should use formatting methods.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Right-click the partition on USB flash drive and choose Convert FAT to NTFS in the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard.

activate Convert FAT to NTFS feature

Step 2: Click Start button on the pop-up window to start converting process.

click Start button on the pop-up window to start converting process

Step 3: Click Close after the converting process is finished.

You can also use same method to convert NTFS file system to FAT file system without backup step and move-back step. But this feature is not free. You can click the following icon to buy MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Edition.

You might be also concerned about how to recover data from USB flash drive.

Here are 5 methods on how to solve Samsung smart TV USB format problem. If you have bought a Samsung TV, I think you may need these methods.Click to tweet

Bottom Line

Can this post help you know more about your Samsung smart TV? Does it really solve the smart TV format problem? We need your feedback. Surely, if you have any problem in carrying out the above methods, you can email to [email protected] for help, or leave a comment below. We will reply you as soon as possible.

Samsung Smart TV USB Format FAQ

???? What format does USB need to be for Samsung TV?
Samsung divides its TVs into three types according to technology applied in screen: Samsung QLED smart UHD TV, Premium UHD TV, and Full HD TV. Samsung QLED and Samsung UHD TVs support FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems, while Full HD TV supports NTFS (read only), FAT32 and FAT16. 
???? How do I use a USB on my Samsung Smart TV?
  • Plug a USB storage device into a USB port at the back of your TV or the Mini One Connect of your TV.
  • Press the Source button on your remote. Then select the USB Device.
  • Select the media file you want to play.
  • Press the Enter button to show the control panel.
???? Why does my USB not work on my Samsung TV?
  • If you connect USB device to Samsung TV with a USB extension cable, the USB might not be recognized by Samsung TV due to the loose connection or something like that.
  • The file system of your USB device is incorrect.
  • Your USB drive stores too many files, for example more than 4000, so that some files cannot be opened.
  • The list of files is corrupted or a file in the list is not played.
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About The Author

Linda
Linda

Position: Columnist

Linda has been working as an editor at MiniTool for 5 years. She is always curious about computer knowledge and learns it crazily. Her articles are simple and easy to understand. Even people who do not understand computer can gain something. By the way, her special focuses are disk management, data recovery and PDF editing.