How to format usb to fat32 or fat16 as no fat32 option for formatting?

So, you’re thinking about formatting USB to FAT32 using Windows’ built-in tools — cool, it’s super simple. But Windows’ built-in format tool only supports FAT32 for drives up to 32GB. If your USB is bigger, you won’t see FAT32 as an option through the normal format menu. You’d need third-party tools for larger drives. FAT32 doesn’t support permissions, encryption, or journaling. That means your data isn’t protected if something corrupts the drive or if someone else gets hold of it. And FAT32 isn’t as robust as NTFS. If you frequently unplug the drive without safely ejecting, or if there’s a sudden power cut, it’s more likely to get corrupted or lose data.

While FAT32 is super compatible across devices, it’s not ideal for modern use cases like bootable drives for UEFI systems or large file transfers. Sometimes, formatting USB to FAT32 is a trade-off — ease of access but limited functionality.

If your drive is 32GB or less and you’re okay with the file size limit, Disk Management is a good way to go. But for bigger drives or if you need to handle larger files, you’ll want to consider other options like third-party FAT32 formatters or exFAT.