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I have a Galaxy S4 4G (I9505) with a 32GB external micro-SD card formatted as exFAT. I use this to record some seminars that takes often 0.5-1.0 hour. The video seems to stop after 30-45 minutes based on the video resolution, but always when the file size reaches 4GB.

I know that ex-FAT allows more than this. My device reads it fine and everything, but the camera app still enforces the limit. I'm using the stock app, on a non-rooted Android 4.2.2 (OTA update), the Samsung version not the Play one. It's also usually not a battery problem (battery is often above %50 after recording, and sometime it's in charger from laptop or power plug).

If I understand correctly, Android API allows overriding this limit and maybe making it unlimited, but I can't find any video recording application that does have this limit disabled. Can you suggest any?

Otherwise, if there is another custom ROM or whatever that I may install to get a modified stock app without the limit, I'd take that as an option, although obviously just recommending a 3rd party video recording app that overrides the limit sounds like a much less hassle (even for someone familiar with rooting and flashing, from my old Galaxy S 1 days).

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  • This is not an issue with android. The 4GB file limit is inherent to FAT file systems. I hope this stackoverflow link provides some insight: stackoverflow.com/questions/4662412/…
    – user44642
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 8:19
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    exFAT is not FAT32. exFAT is a Microsoft format that's meant to override the limit but be lighter than the full NTFS filesystem. It's supported in some relatively new phones natively, like Galaxy S4. Read about exFAT on Wikipedia or check something like tech-recipes.com/rx/2801/exfat_versus_fat32_versus_ntfs for more info.
    – Meligy
    Commented Nov 6, 2013 at 9:23

2 Answers 2

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Because Samsung cannot predict if the user of the phone will have their sdcard formatted with something like exFAT or FAT32, they (samsung) put a size limit of 4GB in to the camera app. If they did not have the file size limit, and a user did have the sdcard formatted with FAT32, the file would not save to disk and could cause other issues as well. They had to scope to the lowest common supported format.

You might be able to find some cameras that have this limit removed. For example, here is a post on XDA that someone modified the camera for the Note 3 (this may, or may not work for your phone) to remove the size limit. The time limit of 90 minutes still exists.

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Had exactly the same problem. ExFAT is not the solution as Samsung prevents videos over 4 GB. The solution is an app that records for a preset time, then automatically start a new recording. I use AutoBoy Dash Cam. I can now record for hours and hours. You then stick the videos back together. There is a slight glitch at the join, but minimal.

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