"CF2" redirects here. For the 3-inch floppy disk format, see Compact Floppy. For the chemical compound, see Difluorocarbene.
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CompactFlash (CF)
A 2 GB CompactFlash card
Media type
Mass storage device format
Encoding
Various file systems
Capacity
2 MB to 512 GB[1][2]
CF5.0: up to 128 PB
Developedby
SanDisk
Dimensions
43×36×3.3 mm (Type I)
43×36×5 mm (Type II)
Weight
10 grams (typical)
Usage
Digital cameras and other mass storage devices
Extendedfrom
PCMCIA / PC Card
CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994.[3]
CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the early memory card formats, surpassing Miniature Card and SmartMedia. Subsequent formats, such as MMC/SD, various Memory Stick formats, and xD-Picture Card offered stiff competition. Most of these cards are smaller than CompactFlash while offering comparable capacity and speed. Proprietary memory card formats for use in professional audio and video, such as P2 and SxS, are faster, but physically larger and more costly.
CompactFlash's popularity is declining as CFexpress is taking over. As of 2022, both Canon[4] and Nikon's[5] newest high end cameras, e.g. the Canon EOS R5, Canon EOS R3, and Nikon Z 9 use CFexpress cards for the higher performance required to record 8K video.
Traditional CompactFlash cards use the Parallel ATA interface, but in 2008, a variant of CompactFlash, CFast was announced. CFast (also known as CompactFast) is based on the Serial ATA interface.
In November 2010, SanDisk, Sony and Nikon presented a next generation card format to the CompactFlash Association. The new format has a similar form factor to CF/CFast but is based on the PCI Express interface instead of Parallel ATA or Serial ATA.[6][7] With potential read and write speeds of 1 Gbit/s (125 MB/s) and storage capabilities beyond 2 TiB, the new format is aimed at high-definition camcorders and high-resolution digital cameras, but the new cards are not backward compatible with either CompactFlash or CFast. The XQD card format was officially announced by the CompactFlash Association in December 2011.[8]
^Frank, Bill (March 2, 2003). "CompactFlash Specification Allows for the Addressing of up to 137 GB" (PDF) (Press release). CompactFlash Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-05-12.
^MemberClicks. "Home". www.compactflash.org. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
^"History of the SanDisk brand". SanDisk. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
^"Canon Announces the EOS R5 C 8K RAW Digital Cinema Camera, Capable of Both Cinema-quality Video and High-speed, High-quality Still Image Capture".
^"Press Room".
^"Sandisk, Sony, and Nikon propose 500MBps memory card with more than 2TB capacity". engadget.com. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
^"CompactFlash allies rally against dominant SD". cnet.com. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
^"CompactFlash Association readies next-gen XQD format, promises write speeds of 125 MB/s and up". engadget.com. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first...
September 19, 2012. "The CompactFlash Association Invites Participation on XQDTM 2.0 — The CompactFlash Association". Compactflash.org. September 15, 2012...
flash-based removable media; CompactFlash was originally based on it, though later cards moved to less expensive NAND flash. NAND flash has reduced erase and...
protruding USB flash drives. Common types of flash memory card include SD cards (including microSD), Sony's Memory Stick and CompactFlash. However, SD cards...
California. Products manufactured by Lexar include SD cards, CompactFlash cards, USB flash drives, card readers and solid-state drives. Once a division...
revolution". The San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved August 6, 2008. "25 Years of CompactFlash: A Look Back at the Pioneering Format". PCMAG. "Santa Clara Valley Chapter...
via USB, does not attach to unit) Expansion ports: Sony Memory Stick CompactFlash Type-II (can be used as 16-bit PCMCIA with proper adapter) Soundcard:...
designed to fit in CompactFlash (CF) Type II slots. By 2010, Microdrives were viewed as obsolete, having been overtaken by solid-state flash media in read/write...
pixel CCD sensor and built-in photo flash. It had 2 megabytes of internal picture storage and supported CompactFlash external memory storage. It also had...
eight different UDMA modes, ranging from 0 to 6 for ATA (0 to 7 for CompactFlash), each with its own timing. Modes faster than UDMA mode 2 require an...
higher storage capacities or speeds as provided by other flash card standards such as CompactFlash. These limitations may be addressed by evolving memory...
cards: Flash memory-based CompactFlash (CF) card (including CFast card) and XQD card (Note: some other types of CF and XQD card are not flash memory-based)...
manufacturers of flash memory controllers for various flash memory devices like SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, and CompactFlash cards. Note: Independent=sells...
"Direct Memory Access (DMA) Modes and Bus Mastering DMA". CompactFlash 2.1 "CompactFlash 6.0". Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Curtis...
gray Interface: Serial and IrDA (Infrared) (ver. 1.0) Expansion slots: CompactFlash Type I and PC card Type II Battery: 2x AA,(And rechargeable battery pack)...
store image data in flash memory cards or other removable media. Most stand-alone cameras use SD format, while a few use CompactFlash or other types. In...
cards are flash memory storage media used to store digital information in many electronics products. The types of memory cards include: CompactFlash, PCMCIA...
scales; they're sized to be WYSIWYG when viewing using 81 PPI monitor. CompactFlash Association announces CF 5.0 standard supporting up to 128 PiB of storage...
reader is a device for accessing the data on a memory card such as a CompactFlash (CF), Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMediaCard (MMC). Most card readers...
board they provide support for 32 megabytes of SDRAM in addition to CompactFlash and PCMCIA slots along with an I2S or AC-Link serial audio bus, PS/2...
Express-based flash card standard by the CompactFlash Association with x2 PCIe CFexpress card: A PCI Express-based flash card by the CompactFlash Association...
Octatrack by producing a limited number of Anniversary Edition units. A CompactFlash card reader lets arbitrary digital sound recordings be loaded into RAM...
less expensive ATA-type cards, which include CompactFlash and Memory Stick. Like an SRAM, Linear Flash supports execute in place (XIP) applications in...
(SD) slot, a CompactFlash slot or a combination of the two. Although designed for memory, Secure Digital Input/Output (SDIO) and CompactFlash cards are available...
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