There is a built-in limitation in the FAT32 file system: Although the total size of the files you can store on a FAT32 drive could be up to 2TB, you cannot save an individual file that exceeds 4GB on it. For a FAT16 USB flash drive, the maximum file size is 2GB.
The problem occurs because one of the files you want to transfer is larger than 4 GB and your USB flash drive is using the FAT32 file system, of which the maximum file size is 4GB. When facing the 'The file is too large for the destination file system' issue in Windows 10/8/7, you might get confused about why you would not be able to copy the file to your USB flash drive when there is sufficient free space.
What's The Reason for The 'file is too large' Error?
'Yesterday, when I tried to copy some large files including Windows 11/10 ISO files, the backup images of my operating system, movies, personal video files, and other data to my 32 GB external hard drive, I received the error message saying 'The file is too large for the destination file system.' I don't know why it happened as there was enough free space on the disk.
