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FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 all differ by the cluster size that is allowed. FAT12 was used in the original DOS system and was very limited in terms of allowable file sizes. FAT16 allows for smaller cluster sizes than FAT12 and the maximum file size achievable is 2GB. FAT32 is more flexible than FAT12 or FAT16 and uses cluster sizes as small as 4K to allow file sizes larger than 2GB. When selecting a filesystem type to use when formatting, it all depends on the primary use of the card as each filesystem types has its advantages.
If you are primarily using your card for multimedia (mp3's or video), using FAT16 at a cluster size of 32K is desirable (because of file sizes you will have fewer files). If you are going to use the card for applications and the associated data, a FAT32 filesystem would probably be better since you will have alot more files than if you were using it for just multimedia.
The idea is that you would want to use FAT32 on a card that will hold alot of small files because you can obtain smaller cluster sizes. Use FAT16 with a larger cluster size for large files such as multimedia files.
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