USB Drive Requirements for Recording Videos

Note

For some vehicles manufactured after approximately November 1, 2021, the center console USB ports may only support charging devices. To play media files or to format and view video footage, use the USB-A port in the glovebox (see Interior Electronics).

Note

The ability to format and store video footage on USB drives may not be available on your vehicle depending on the date of manufacture and vehicle configuration.

Some features require you to use a USB drive (for example, Dashcam, Sentry Mode and Track Mode, if equipped,) that meet these requirements:

Minimum storage capacity of 64 GB. Use a USB drive with as much available storage as possible. Video footage can occupy a large amount of space.
A sustained write speed of at least 4 MB/s. Note that sustained write speed differs from peak write speed.
USB 2.0 compatible. If using a USB 3.0 drive, it must also support USB 2.0.
Properly formatted (either automatically or manually).

Note

In some market regions you can purchase recommended USB drives on http://www.tesla.com.

Automatically Formatting a USB Drive

Insert the USB drive into a front USB port that supports the ability to format, save, and view video footage (see Interior Electronics). Then, touch Controls > Safety > Format USB Drive. This automatically formats the USB drive as exFAT and creates folders for TeslaCam and TeslaTrackMode (if equipped). The USB drive is now ready to record and save video footage.

Format USB Drive is available only when a USB drive (with one or fewer partitions) is inserted into a front USB port. Choosing Format USB Drive erases any existing content on the USB drive. Before using this feature, move any content you want to keep to a different device.

Manually Formatting a USB Drive

If Model 3 is unable to format the USB drive, format it using a computer:

Format the USB drive as exFAT, MS-DOS FAT (for Mac), ext3, or ext4 (NTFS is currently not supported).
Create a base-level folder titled TeslaCam. For Track Mode (if equipped), create another base-level folder called TeslaTrackMode. You can use one USB drive for Dashcam, Sentry Mode, Track Mode (if equipped), and audio files, but you must create separate partitions or folders on the exFAT USB drive.
Once formatted, insert the USB drive into the glovebox USB port (if equipped), otherwise use a front USB port in the center console. Do not use a rear USB port because they can only charge devices. It may take a few seconds for Model 3 to recognize the USB drive.
Once recognized, ensure icons for Dashcam and Sentry Mode are available when you touch Controls. Model 3 is now ready to record videos.
Note
You may need to first enable Sentry Mode (if equipped) by touching Controls > Sentry.

Viewing Video Recordings

If footage is saved, you can view the clips on the touchscreen or a computer.

When the USB drive runs out of storage space, video footage can no longer be saved. To prevent the USB drive from getting full, regularly move saved videos to another device and delete them from the USB drive.

When enabled, Dashcam and Sentry Mode records footage in cycles. Footage is continuously overwritten unless you save it. You must save your desired footage to view it, otherwise the footage is erased and overwritten. See Sentry Mode and Dashcam for information on saving footage. Four videos are recorded for each saved clip, one from each camera (front, rear, left, and right).

To comply with EU privacy requirements, Sentry Mode only records up to 10 minutes of footage at a time. Footage is only saved when a security event is detected by the car or camera. The vehicle otherwise deletes all unsaved, recently recorded footage in these circumstances:

When you turn off Sentry Mode.
When you re-enter the vehicle.

Note

Rear camera recordings are only available on vehicles manufactured after approximately February 2018.

Viewing on the Touchscreen

You can view recorded footage on the touchscreen when Model 3 is in Park. Touch the Dashcam icon located in the app launcher. The tabs display a list of all video clips, organized by location and timestamp. Pause, rewind, fast forward, and delete clips as needed. Swipe to the right or press and hold to quickly delete certain clips.

Navigate to Controls > Safety > Delete Dashcam Clips to delete all Dashcam and Sentry Mode footage.

Note

Dashcam recording pauses when you launch the Viewer.

Viewing on a Computer

Insert the USB drive into a computer and navigate to the TeslaCam or TeslaTrackMode (if equipped) folder.

The TeslaCam folder contains these sub-folders:

RecentClips: Contains up to 60 minutes of recorded content.
SavedClips: Contains all recordings that are saved and renamed from the RecentClips folder.
SentryClips: Contains recordings from all Sentry Mode security events. If storage space on the USB drive becomes limited, the oldest Sentry Clips are deleted to provide space for new ones. Once deleted, you cannot retrieve them.