Camera Memory Speed
Memory Card Comparison & Performance Tests for Digital Cameras

What is the fastest memory card? SD, CF, CFast or XQD?

The fastest Secure Digital (SD) memory card

The fastest SD memory cards currently available are UHS-II cards. The UHS-II interface is capable of up to 312MB/s bus speed while actual card transfer speeds are slightly lower.

A total of 191 SD cards were tested using benchmark software in several card readers. The fastest SD card by write speed was the Sony SF-G 300MB/s UHS-II 32GB with 273.672 MB/s sequential write speed. The fastest card by read speed was Transcend Ultimate UHS-II U3 32GB with 307.050 MB/s sequential read speed.

Below is a list of the 10 fastest SD cards by write speed:

Below is a list of the 10 fastest SD cards by read speed:

A new standard UHS-III has been announced in 2017, but there are currently no UHS-III SD cards available on the market. The UHS-III interface will be capable of up to 624MB/s bus speed, and actual transfer rate will probably peak around 600MB/s.

The fastest CompactFlash (CF) memory card

Traditional CompactFlash cards operate up to 167 MB/s speed using UltraDMA Mode 7 (UDMA-7). This standard was announced in 2010 and there is no faster option available as it is limited by the parallel ATA interface. A newer variant called CFast uses a serial ATA interface but is not compatible with standard CompactFlash cards.

A total of 26 CF cards were tested in memory card readers. The fastest CF card by write speed was the Lexar Professional 1066x 128GB with 155.644 MB/s sequential write speed. The fastest card by read speed was Lexar Professional 1066x 64GB with 162.620 MB/s sequential read speed.

Below is a list of the 10 fastest CF cards by write speed:

Below is a list of the 10 fastest CF cards by read speed:

The fastest CFast Card

The fastest CFlash is Version 2.0 that was announced in 2010 and up to 600 MB/s speed is possible.

The fastest XQD Card

The fastest XQD card is XQD 2.0 which was announced in 2012. This standard provides up to 1,000 MB/s (1 GB/s). This is currently the fastest type of flash memory card available on the commercial market.