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Microsoft has finally lifted a 30-year-old artificial limitation on FAT32 formatting. With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview builds on April 10, 2026, the company increased the maximum size for formatting FAT32 volumes via the command line from 32GB to 2TB. The change shipped in both the Dev Channel (Build 26300.8170) and Beta Channel (Build 26220.8165). The original 32GB cap was introduced as an arbitrary choice by former Windows developer Dave Plummer for the Windows 9x format utility, even though the FAT32 specification never imposed such a restriction. With a 32-bit sector count field, FAT32 supports volumes up to 2TB using 512-byte sectors and up to 16TB with 4,096-byte sectors. Key caveats remain: the Windows graphical interface still enforces the 32GB cap, so users must use the command line to format larger volumes. The 4GB maximum individual file size limit of FAT32 remains unchanged, making it impractical for large video files or backups. The update currently applies only to Insider preview builds and is not yet available to all users. FAT32 remains relevant for compatibility with older devices, BIOS/UEFI tools, removable media, embedded systems, and situations requiring broad cross-platform support. Its simplicity allows use on nearly any microcontroller for writing data to SD cards readable by virtually anything. Users needing more functionality can use exFAT, which Microsoft introduced in 2006 to address FAT32 limitations, supporting volumes up to 128PB and files up to 16EB (theoretically). Alongside the FAT32 change, Microsoft significantly improved performance when navigating storage settings on large drives, with loading now nearly instant even on low-spec machines. The article also mentions other FAT implementations from companies like Tuxera, Paragon, Embedded Access, Sciopta, eSol, and Microsoft's ongoing efforts to make MS-DOS open source.