Best microSD Cards that are 4K UHD Video Capture Ready

Samuel J Tan Mobile Devices, Smartphones 0

With today’s smartphones, DSLRs and action cameras capable of capturing 4K videos, you need high performing microSD memory cards with high write speed to match.

Not all flash memory cards are created equal.

Most manufacturers advertise the read speed, typically around 45 to 150 MB/s. This is great but when capturing video, you need the write speed to be high and cards with high read speed come does not necessarily come with high write speed. Some have with very slow write speeds of between 10-20MB/s.

Typical write rate for microSD flash memory cards that support 4K Ultra HD video capture is between 60MB/s to 90MB/s or higher.

The only way to tell them apart is from the UHS Speed Class Rating. More common speed rating of U1 is given to cards capable of recording Full HD videos at 1080p or 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution.

MicroSD cards capable of capturing 4K videos or Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution compatible with today’s high end smartphones and premium action cameras have UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) rating.

These cards are 4K Ultra HD ready and will capture 4K Ultra HD resolution videos on your device with no drop frame and not just watch them.

Make sure you choose the right microSD card for your next 4K Ultra HD Home Video ‘Blockbuster’.

What’s more, 4K videos take up a huge amount of storage and to be sure you do not run out of space in the middle of capturing all those special moments, you will need 128GB of bigger microSD cards.

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Ultra HD (UHD) Capture Capable MicroSD Comparison Chart

Here is a chart comparing the performance of Ultra HD capture capable microSD cards. The best overall performer is the SanDisk Extreme PRO. When considering write speed, three cards share the second spot with 90MB/s; they are Samsung Pro Plus, SanDisk Extreme Plus and Samsung EVO Plus. Due to lack of information we had to take the write speed of PNY Elite-X and Lexar Professional 1000x from benchmarks ran by users. These are at a respectible 75MB/s and 80MB/s accordingly. The slowest write speed in our list is the SanDisk Extreme at 60MB/s. Given that the SanDisk has two other front runners, the chart topping SanDisk Extreme PRO and SanDisk Extreme Plus, we see SanDisk Extreme is the affordable unit.

4K Ultra HD Ready MicroSD Cards	Read (MB/s)	Write (MB/s)
SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB	275	100
Samsung Pro Plus 128GB	95	90
SanDisk Extreme 128GB	90	60
PNY Elite-X 128GB	90	75
Lexar Professional 1000x 128GB	150	80
SanDisk Extreme Plus 128GB	95	90
Samsung EVO Plus 256GB	95	90

The Big Ones: 256GB and 512GB microSDXC Cards

While still expensive, there are now many 256GB and 512GB microSD cards capable of 4K UHD video capture. Manufacturers have broken the technological barrier and introduce microSD cards which are both big on storage and fast enough to copy with 4K write applications. We list some of best microSD cards by size below with read and write speed ratings as reported by the manufacturers.