Can You Use a Flash Drive With an Amazon Fire Tablet?

You can use a flash drive with an Amazon Fire tablet if you have the correct USB OTG adapter. Otherwise, you can use a PC to transfer files from a flash drive to a Fire tablet.

Can I Connect a USB Drive to an Amazon Fire Tablet?

To directly connect a USB flash drive to your Fire tablet, you need to use a compatible USB OTG cable. All Fire tablets support USB OTG, but not all USB OTG cables work with every Fire device. The adapter you need depends on whether your Fire tablet has a USB-C or micro-USB port.

When shopping for a USB OTG cable, make sure it is compatible with your specific model. To find your Fire tablet's model, go to Settings > Device Options and look under About Fire Tablet.

How Do I Use a Flash Drive on My Fire Tablet?

To access the files on your flash drive, you need to download a free file manager app from the Amazon app store, like ES File Explorer.

Plug the USB OTG adapter into your Fire tablet and insert the USB drive into the port. Then, open the file manager app. If you don't see the USB drive, look for a tab that says Local or USB OTG.

Fire tablets do not support all file formats for photos, video, audio, and other media. Here's a list of supported file types on Amazon Fire devices:

• Books: AZW (.azw3), MOBI (non-DRM), KF8
• Music: MP3, AAC (.m4a), MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV
• Photos: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
• Movies: MP4, 3GP, VP8 (.webm)
• Documents: TXT, PDF, PRC, DOC, DOCX
• Audible: AA, AAX
  

How to Transfer Files From a Flash Drive to a Fire Tablet via PC

If you don't have a USB OTG cable, you can transfer files from the flash drive to your Fire tablet via your PC:

1. Plug your USB flash drive into one of your computer's USB ports.
   

2. When you connect your Fire tablet to one of the other USB ports on your computer, you may see a notification about USB Options. Tap it and select File Transfer to allow access to your device.
   

   If your PC doesn't detect your Fire tablet automatically, install the USB drivers and ADB manually as detailed in the Amazon developer documentation.

3. Open your computer's File Explorer and locate your Fire tablet under This PC or My Computer. It should appear alongside your other drives (including the USB flash drive). Right-click your Fire and select Open in a new window.
   

   Mac users must download the Android File Transfer tool to access a Fire tablet via USB. Your Fire tablet will appear on the desktop.
   

4. In the original window, select your USB drive to open it.
   

5. Drag the files you want to transfer from the flash drive into the appropriate folder (Documents, Music, Pictures) on your Fire tablet.

   Likewise, you can move files from your Fire to the USB drive. You cannot move apps from the Amazon Appstore, content from Prime Video, and other DRM-protected files.
   

Then unplug your Fire tablet and remove the flash drive from your computer. The files you transferred should appear in the appropriate app. Any videos you send to your Fire appear in your Photos library and the Personal Videos app.