Preparing your USB drive
Three quick steps before you head to the booth
If you're using a USB stick with the CDJs, it needs prepping in three steps first. An improperly formatted or exported drive can mean the CDJ won't read it at all, shows a "no track" or "unsupported" error, or only displays some of your tracks. A couple of minutes of prep now avoids surprises at the booth.
💾 Choose the right USB drive
- USB 3.0 (3.1 may work on CDJ-3000s, but we recommend 3.0 across all devices).
- 64GB or below is recommended for best compatibility.
- 128GB+ isn't recommended, but should still work.
- Stick to a trusted brand like SanDisk — cheaper drives are more prone to corruption.
⚙️ Format it to FAT32
- FAT32 (MS-DOS) is the only format guaranteed to work across all Pioneer CDJs.
- This will erase everything on the drive, so back up your data first.
- Windows users: you'll need an extra app to format drives over 32GB — see the video below.
🎵 Export your tracks
Export from your laptop via Rekordbox directly onto the USB stick.
The two videos below walk through the formatting and export process step by step.
Formatting USB — Mac & Windows
Exporting songs to Rekordbox
For more DJ setup tutorials
- Part 2 — DJ mixer sound output & levels: see the guide.
- Part 3 — Pioneer CDJ & mixer walkthrough: see the guide.
More resources
Need advice on getting started as a DJ, expert tips on the equipment, or anything else about our DJ studios? Check out our blog.
Still stuck? Don't worry — our team's on live chat and WhatsApp 24/7, and we're always happy to help.