CFexpress vs. xD-Picture Card
Comparing 2 standards across 14 specifications. 14 key differences identified.
CFexpress is an ultra-high-speed removable solid-state storage media standard developed by the CompactFlash Association (CFA). Built directly on the PCI Express (PCIe Gen 3/Gen 4) physical bus and NVM Express (NVMe) command set, it is the dominant storage medium for high-end professional digital cinema, mirrorless photography, and broadcast video.
xD-Picture Card ('eXtreme Digital') is a proprietary flash memory card format developed by Olympus and Fujifilm in 2002 (manufactured by Toshiba and Samsung). Measuring 20.0 × 25.0 × 1.7 mm with 18 surface pads, it utilized a controllerless architecture where the host camera directly managed the raw NAND flash silicon, before being discontinued in 2010 in favor of SDHC.
Specification Comparison Table
14 Parameters| Parameter / Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Governing Body
|
CompactFlash Association (CFA) | — |
|
Underlying Storage Architecture
|
PCI Express (PCIe Gen 3 / Gen 4 / Gen 5) + NVM Express (NVMe v1.3/1.4) | — |
|
Type A Dimensions & Bus
|
20.0 × 28.0 × 2.8 mm | 1-lane PCIe (1 GB/s PCIe 3.0 / 2 GB/s PCIe 4.0) | — |
|
Type B Dimensions & Bus
|
38.5 × 29.6 × 3.8 mm | 2-lane PCIe (2 GB/s PCIe 3.0 / 4 GB/s PCIe 4.0) | — |
|
Type C Dimensions & Bus
|
54.0 × 72.0 × 4.4 mm | 4-lane PCIe (4 GB/s PCIe 3.0 / 8 GB/s PCIe 4.0) | — |
|
Type B XQD Compatibility
|
Physically identical exterior shell to Sony XQD (host backward-compatible via firmware) | — |
|
Operating Power Tiers
|
Up to 1.7W (Type A) / Up to 3.0W (Type B) / Up to 6.0W (Type C) | — |
|
Governing Manufacturers
|
— | Olympus Corporation & Fujifilm (manufactured by Toshiba/Samsung) |
|
Introduction Year
|
— | 2002 (superseded SmartMedia) |
|
Physical Dimensions
|
— | 20.0 mm × 25.0 mm × 1.7 mm (Weight: ~2.8 g) |
|
Pad Configuration
|
— | 18 gold-plated contact pads (bottom surface) |
|
Controller Architecture
|
— | Controllerless (Host camera CPU directly controls raw NAND flash) |
|
Variants & Capacities
|
— | Standard (16–512MB SLC), Type M (256MB–2GB MLC), Type H (256MB–2GB High Speed), Type M+ (up to 2GB) |
|
Nominal Operating Voltage
|
— | 3.3V nominal |