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If your car radio doesn’t recognise a USB stick, it’s probably not compatible with the radio. We’ll show you how to check this and what alternatives you have.
USB stick not recognised by car radio
If your car radio doesn’t recognise the USB stick or doesn’t display any files, it’s usually due to one of the following issues:
- Older car radios are only compatible with USB 2.0 ports. If the stick works when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, that is where the problem lies. However, you can buy inexpensive USB sticks for as little as around 8 euros.
- Some car radios can only handle USB sticks with limited storage capacity. If you are using a stick with a capacity of 32 gigabytes or more, you should first test a smaller storage device on your radio.
Car radio does not recognise the format of the USB stick
If your car radio recognises the USB stick but does not display the data stored on it, it may be formatted incorrectly:
- Plug your USB stick into a computer and right-click on the drive icon in My Computer.
- In the context menu, click on ‘Properties’. You will now be able to see whether the stick is formatted as NTFS or FAT32.
- If the stick is formatted as NTFS, you should reformat it to FAT32. Many car radios are better able to handle this format.
