Best Memory Card GoPro Hero 9

With the new 5k H.265 recording modes in the GoPro Hero 9, you may be wondering what memory cards are best for the camera.

This guide will walk you through the different requirements and recording modes of the GoPro Hero 9 to help you find the best memory cards for the most stable performance.

GoPro Hero 9 Black – GoPro

Best SD Cards GoPro Hero 9

Before buying memory cards for the Hero9 there are a few things you should know.

The camera uses a single UHS-I micro SD memory card slot. You don’t need to buy UHS-II card, but you should stick with the U3 speed class to avoid any problems.

The Hero9 has a memory card capacity of up to 256GB. It’s not recommended to use bigger cards.

Compatibility and reliability issues to look out for – After testing memory cards in GoPro cameras since the Hero5 we’ve discovered a trend with GoPro cameras where you can get strange errors or problems if you’re using the wrong card. A lot of people think this is the camera’s fault, maybe so, but usually, most strange issues are cleared up by switching out your memory card. This has improved dramatically over the years, but occasionally you’ll still see some issues with things like camera locking up, lagging, clips getting corrupted, or battery draining when the camera is off, if you’re using a memory card the camera doesn’t like. Like the Nintendo Switch Sandisk cards as an example – GoPros hate those.

If you experience lost clips, errors, abnormally bad battery life, laggy interface, etc, try switching out your card first, and here are some of the top recommendations.

I’m currently using the Delkin Black SD card which has been working great. It’s the latest from Delkin with built-in error-correction and wear-leveling but expensive compared to some of the other options.

Recommendation SD Cards

These are the best memory cards with their corresponding performance take from an Android smartphone.

The GoPro Hero9 can take memory cards up to 256GB, but 128GB cards work very well for normal usage.

The bitrate of even the 5k recording mode in the Hero 9 is only up to 100Mbps which is 12.5MB/s so you don’t actually need an ultra-fast micro sd memory card, just one that comes rated with a minimum of a U3 spec. U3 means the card will maintain a minimum write speed of 30MB/s.

Regarding UHS-II cards

Only buy the UHS-II micro SD cards if you want very fast transfer speeds from your card to your computer with a micro UHS-II reader. They will give you no benefit in the camera.

SD Memory Card Speed Tests

There is still a not great way to benchmark memory cards in the new 9, so what we do is test different cards throughout the life of the camera. I’ve been doing this since the Hero 5. 

The Hero9 has moved the bitrate up to 100Mbps and now to shoot 5k you’ll need to use HEVC, or H.265.

This chart shows the performance benchmarked in a Galaxy smartphone.

*Speed scores are taken from Disk Speed Test using the Samsung Galaxy S10+ SD Card Benchmarks.

SD Card Related Camera Specs

About Each Card

Of all these cards, the Sandisk Extreme and Extreme Plus cards are pretty much guaranteed to work. But there are some other great options, especially if you want to use your camera in other devices, and there is even a new Delkin Black card that offers a tougher build quality.

Sandisk Extreme UHS-I V30 A2 Available at: Amazon / BHphoto This is the best memory card you can buy for the GoPro Hero 9. It works in all GoPros and Sandisk Extreme cards have always been the cards bundled with the cameras and sold by GoPro themselves. If for whatever reason you can’t get this card then there are a few other great options below.

You can also see GoPro’s official memory considerations. I have made sure the cards I’ve recommended here work in my GoPro without any issues, but are also on GoPro’s official considerations page to further reduce any problems, minus the Netac which they have not tested. 

GoPro Hero 9 Memory Card Size

The maximum SD card size for the GoPro Hero 9 is 256GB.

With the higher bitrate of the Hero 9 compared to the older cameras, I find myself often getting halfway through a 64GB card, with the high bitrate doing things like going to SeaWorld with the kids.

Do you need an SD Card Bigger than the 32GB the Hero 9 ship with?

Now that the Hero 9 is capable of shooting 30p at 100Mbps, you may want a card bigger than 32GB. At 100Mbps, a 32GB card will only give you 43 minutes of recording.

GoPro Hero 9 Bitrates

These are the bitrates you can expect to find in the different record modes.

Use the Bitrate Calculator to see how much time each bitrate will record.

Potential Problems Shooting 5k

If you want to shoot 5k, you have to use the HEVC / H.265 codec. This is good in that the H.265 codec is more efficient than the older H.264 codec and you will get better image quality with it. However, it’s harder to decode. 

If you do not have a computer with a processor that is newer than 2015, you could have serious issues with H.265 playback, and you’ll need to convert your files right away with handbrake or some other app to something else.

I would probably just do H.264 with a target bitrate of around 150Mbps or 200Mbps to keep the files small.

Best Memory Cards GoPro Hero9 | Conclusions

While it seems like there is a lot to worry about with memory cards in the GoPro, most of the problems come from using off-brands, or specialty cards like the Sandisk Nintendo Switch cards and high endurance cards.

GoPro cameras have been configured to run very well with Sandisk cards and Samsung micro SD cards. The Sandisk Extreme cards really are the way to go, but I have found Extreme Pro, Ultra and Plus cards all work great as well.

If you are still having strange issues with camera lockups or sluggish performance, it’s almost certainly your memory card and the firsts thing you should always try is to swap out memory cards to something different than what you were using.