The XQD card is a

memory card A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a so ...

format primarily developed for

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

cards. It uses

PCI Express PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common ...

as a data transfer interface. The format is targeted at high-definition

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

s and high-resolution digital cameras. It offers target read and write speeds from 1 Gbit/s (0.125 GB/s) to about 4 Gbit/s (0.5 GB/s) and storage capabilities beyond 2 TB. The cards are not backward compatible with

CompactFlash 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. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

CFast 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. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

cards, and despite the name similarity, has no connection with the

xD-Picture Card The xD-Picture Card is an obsolete form of flash memory card, used in digital cameras made by Olympus and Fujifilm during the 2000s. The xD in the xD-Picture Card stands for eXtreme Digital. xD cards were manufactured with capacities of 16&nbs ...

. XQD and CFast were both designed as a replacement of the 1994 CompactFlash standard. The format was first announced in November 2010 by

SanDisk SanDisk is a brand for flash memory products, including memory cards and readers, USB flash drives, solid-state drives, and digital audio players, manufactured and marketed by Western Digital. The original company, SanDisk Corporation was acquir ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

, and was immediately picked up by the

CompactFlash Association 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. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

for development. The final specification was announced in December 2011. XQD version 2.0 was announced in June 2012, featuring support for PCI Express 3.0 with transfer rates up to 8 Gbit/s (1 GB/s). On 7 September 2016 the CFA announced the successor of XQD,

CFexpress CFexpress is a standard for removable media cards proposed by the CompactFlash Association (CFA). The standard uses PCIe 3.0 interface with 1 to 4 lanes where 1 GB/s data can be provided per lane. NVM Express is also supported to provide low overh ...

. This new standard uses the same form-factor and interface but uses the NVMe protocol for higher speeds, lower latencies and lower power consumption.

Support

In January 2012, the first XQD card was announced by Sony, declaring a 1 Gbit/s read and write speed. In July 2012,

Lexar Lexar Media, Inc. is a Chinese brand of flash memory products manufactured by the Chinese company Longsys. The Lexar "JumpDrive" trademark was often used synonymously with the term USB flash drives when the technology was first adopted. Histo ...

(owned at the time by Micron) announced plans to support the XQD format. As of 2012, SanDisk and Kingston had not announced plans to produce XQD cards. In addition to Sony, as of August 2018, Nikon and Delkin are also manufacturing XQD cards. In late 2018, Lexar – by then under new ownership – announced that it would discontinue support for the XQD format in favour of

, citing problems with control, licensing and product availability.

Hosts

Sony has said their broadcast camcorders ( XDCAM and

XDCAM EX XDCAM is a series of products for digital recording using random access solid-state memory media, introduced by Sony in 2003. Four different product lines the XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 differ in types of en ...

) will support the XQD cards. For their broadcast products the XQD card will be classified as a secondary media as XQD is based around consumer technology. Nonetheless, the cards will support acquisition in the

broadcast quality Broadcast quality is a term stemming from quad videotape to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors (TBC) used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition. As the standards for commercial tele ...

MPEG HD422 50 Mbit/s format. On 4 September 2013, Sony released the PXW-Z100, a 4K prosumer camera that records onto XQD cards.

supports XQD cards in its newer high-end DSLR and mirrorless cameras:

Nikon D4 The Nikon D4 is a 16.2-megapixel professional-grade full frame (35mm) digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) announced by Nikon Corporation on 6 January 2012. It succeeds the Nikon D3S and introduces a number of improvements including a 16.2 ...

Nikon D4s The Nikon D4S is a full frame professional DSLR camera announced by Nikon Corporation on February 25, 2014 to succeed the D4 as its flagship DSLR. The D4S offers a number of improvements over its predecessor including a new image sensor, new ima ...

Nikon D5 The Nikon D5 is a full frame professional DSLR camera announced by Nikon Corporation on 6 January 2016 to succeed the D4S as its flagship DSLR. The D5 offers a number of improvements over its predecessor including a new image sensor, new image p ...

Nikon D6 The Nikon D6 is a full frame professional DSLR camera announced by Nikon Corporation on February 11, 2020, to succeed the D5 as its flagship DSLR. It has a resolution of 20.8MP, like the D5. The D6 has a newer Expeed 6 processor that supports ...

Nikon D850 The Nikon D850 is a professional-grade full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) produced by Nikon. The camera was officially announced on July 25, 2017 (the 100th anniversary of Nikon's founding), launched on August 24, 2017, and firs ...

Nikon D500 The Nikon D500 is a 20.9-megapixel enthusiast digital single-lens reflex camera using an APS-C sensor. It was announced by Nikon Corporation on January 6, 2016 along with the Nikon D5 full frame camera. D500 replaced the D300S as Nikon's DX form ...

and

Nikon Z6 The Nikon Z 6 is a full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera produced by Nikon. The camera was officially announced on August 23, 2018, to be released in November. Nikon began shipping the Z 6 to retailers on November 16, 2018. This was t ...

Nikon Z7 The Nikon Z 7 is a 45.7 megapixel full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera produced by Nikon. The camera was officially announced on August 23, 2018, for release in September 2018. It was the first camera to use Nikon's new Z-mount syste ...

. Phase One XF IQ4 camera system (three bodies) supports XQD cards.

References

External links

CompactFlash Association
{{Memory Cards Computer memory Solid-state computer storage media

Support

Hosts

See also

References

External links