One crucial question that arises in the minds of those considering purchasing a Nintendo Switch OLED is: "How much storage does a Switch OLED have?"
The Nintendo Switch OLED, launched in October 2021, introduced a range of enhancements to the popular hybrid console. Notably, the console offers an increased internal memory capacity, providing users with ample space to store their games and digital content.
In this article, we will uncover the storage prowess of this new console and explore the possibilities it brings to your gaming experiences.
How much storage does a Switch OLED have?
The Nintendo Switch OLED model has an internal storage of 64GB, which is a notable increase compared to the standard Switch and Switch Lite models that offer 32GB of onboard storage.
However, a portion of this storage is reserved for the console's OS and related files. Upon initial setup of the original console, approximately 6.1GB of storage is occupied for system files, leaving you with around 57.9GB of usable space for storing your content.
In short, you can expect to have approximately 57GB of available storage space when you first use a brand-new Switch OLED console.
How many games can you store on Switch OLED?
The number of games that can be stored on a Nintendo Switch OLED depends on the size of the games.
The size of individual games can vary significantly, with some smaller titles taking up a few hundred megabytes and larger games occupying several gigabytes. As an example, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom eats up 18GB of storage space, while Among Us only occupies around 400MB.
To give you a rough estimate, if we consider an average game size of 5GB, you could store approximately 11-12 games on a Switch OLED with 57.9GB of usable space. However, it's worth noting that this number will fluctuate depending on the specific sizes of the games you choose to install.
How to increase the Switch OLED storage space
You have the option to increase the storage capacity of Switch OLED by using a microSD card.
The Nintendo Switch supports microSD memory cards, allowing you to store additional games, downloadable content, and other digital content externally. According to Nintendo, the following types of microSD cards are supported on Nintendo Switch OLED:
- micro SD (up to 2GB)
- micro SDHC (4GB to 32GB)
- micro SDXC (64GB and above)
Since the Nintendo Switch is only capable of transfer speeds up to around 95MB/s, it's important to note that even if you purchase a high-speed microSD card, it will be limited by this cap.
Considering this limitation, we have carefully curated a selection of microSD options that offer ample storage space and have a read speed of around 100MB/s. Check out our best micro SD cards for the Nintendo Switch guide.