Best Memory Card GoPro Hero 9

Recommended SD Cards GoPro Hero 9

When considering a memory card for your GoPro Hero 9 Black, there are several important features to keep in mind. This camera is capable of shooting 5K at 30 frames per second or 4K at 60 frames per second, with a high bitrate of 100mbps and 8-bit color support. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure your memory card is up to the task in terms of speed and capacity.

The GoPro Hero 9 requires a U3 UHS-I card to support the max bitrate of 100mbps.

Here are the latest official memory card recommendations from GoPro. For the Hero 9, be sure not to order any cards larger than 256GB from this list as they may cause compatibility issues.

GoPro Hero 9 Capacity

The GoPro Hero9 Memory Card Capacity takes cards up to a maximum size of 256GB. It is not recommended to use cards larger than this.

GoPro Hero 9 Memory Card Compatibility

The GoPro Hero9 requires micro SD memory cards with a U3 speed class.

In my experience testing memory cards with GoPro cameras since the Hero5, I’ve noticed a common trend. Using the wrong or incompatible card can lead to strange errors or problems. While some may blame the camera, most of these issues can be resolved by simply changing your memory card. Although this situation has improved over the years, you may still encounter problems like camera freezing, lagging, corrupted clips, or excessive battery drain when the camera is off if you’re using a memory card that the camera doesn’t favor. For instance, GoPros don’t get along well with Nintendo Switch Sandisk cards.

If you find yourself dealing with lost clips, errors, unusually poor battery life, a sluggish interface, or similar issues, start by replacing your memory card.

Can You Use UHS-II Cards With A GoPro Hero 9?

UHS-II cards are compatible, but they won’t enhance the camera’s performance because it only has a single UHS-I memory card slot. To achieve GoPro’s maximum speeds of 100mbps or 12.5MB/s, you only need a UHS-I U3 memory card.

However, if you want to speed up the process of transferring footage from a UHS-II card to your computer, using an adapter to make the UHS-II card compatible could be a helpful solution.

SD Card Related Camera Specs

Best Size Memory Card For GoPro Hero9

The GoPro Hero 9 has a maximum micro SD card size of 256GB. When recording at 5k 100Mbps, this will give you approximately 341 minutes of video storage on a single card 256GB card.

While a 128GB card may not always be fully utilized during a weekend getaway, I recommend considering them if your budget allows. They provide the flexibility to go a few days without worrying about running out of storage space.

GoPro Hero 9 Bitrates

These are the bitrates you can expect to find in the different record modes. The GoPro Hero 9 can record up to 100Mbps but here are the rates I was able to capture at the various record settings.

GoPro Hero 9 Record Times

This chart shows the expected record times of various size cards when shooting at the max 100Mbps bitrate.

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

Micro SD Memory Card Speed Tests

Check out this table showcasing the results of our micro SD memory read and write speed tests.

Best Memory Cards GoPro Hero9 | Conclusions

No need to stress over memory cards for your GoPro Hero 9. Most of the glitches come from using cards outside of spec or specialty ones like the Sandisk Nintendo Switch cards and high-endurance cards.

GoPro cameras are finely tuned to excel with Sandisk and Samsung micro SD cards. The top pick is the Sandisk Extreme cards, but I’ve had solid results with Extreme Pro, and Plus cards too. The new PNY cards are also working great as well as Kingston and Samsung cards.

If you’re still grappling with peculiar issues like camera hiccups or sluggishness, it’s almost certainly tied to your memory card. Your first move should always be swapping out the memory card for something different from what you were using.

Good luck and have fun!

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