How to Safely Remove USB Device from Roku TV

Removing a USB Thumb Drive from a PC should always be done safely or risk corrupting data on the device

We have all done it. Hurriedly, we yank out that USB thumb drive only to be greeted with a nasty message on the screen notifying us we did it wrong. And at the peril of destroying our precious data on our USB device we should NEVER, ever do this again.

Now that this has been drilled into our heads over and over again for many years, here's how to safely remove a USB Device from a Roku TV.

Don't Worry About Yanking Out That USB Stick From Your Roku TV

Yep, you heard that right. Since Roku TVs only play content from USB devices and don't write data to them, there are no special tricks required to unmount the USB drive before pulling it out.

So after years of being told to unmount your USB device before you pull it out. You can safely just remove it from a Roku TV. And go on about your day without feeling a moment of guilt or remorse.

But if you want to take an extra step to make yourself feel better, press the Home button on the Roku remote to access the home screen before you pull out your USB stick.

Be sure to remember to always follow the proper steps to unmount the USB Stick first whenever removing it from a PC or Mac to protect your data.

Why Use a USB Stick on a Roku TV or Compatible Roku Media Player?

A UBS Drive or Stick is a great way to load videos and movies from a PC and play them back on a Roku TV or compatible player. To use it you will need to download the Roku Media Player Channel.

Once the Roku Media Player channel has been installed, use this channel to play back photos, audio and video files on your Roku TV or stand-alone media streamer downloaded onto the device from a PC or Mac.

This gives a Roku TV or USB enabled Roku player, access to a ton more online content.

What Type of USB Devices Does a Roku TV Support

Roku television manufacturers like TCL recommends using a USB 2.0 Stick instead of newer 3.0 and 3.1 ones because the USB ports on their Roku TVs do not provide enough power. They are backwards compatible but you may need to us an external power adapter cable with some 3.0 devices.

USB storage sticks are called various names like Thumb Drives, Pen Drives or Flash Sticks. And as far as brands go, Samsung SAN DISK, and Kingston are among the best.

The size you get should depend on how many files you plan on transferring. The larger the device, the less number of times it needs to be swapped back and forth between your PC and Roku to watch your media files.

Media Files Compatible with the Roku USB Media Player App

These file types are all supported with the Roku Media Player channel from a USB device.

Video Files – H.264/AVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV) Audio Files – AAC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); MP3(.MP3, .MKV); WMA (.ASF, .WMA, .MKV), FLAC (.FLAC, .MKV), PCM (.WAV, .MKV, .MP4, .MOV), AC3/EAC3 (.MKV,.MP4. .MOV, .AC3), DTS (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV,.DTS), ALAC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV, .M4A), Vorbis (.OGG,.MKV,.WEBM) IPTV Playlists –.M3U, .M3U8, .PLS Image Files – JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated)

If Your Roku Supports 4K Content, These Files Will Play on Your Roku TV or Media Player

4K Video Files – H.265/HEVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); VP9 (.MKV, .WEBM) H.264 (Roku Premiere, Premiere+, and Ultra only)

These media formats are supported on Roku TVs and a few Roku players:

Video – H.262 (.MKV)

If a Roku TV or media player has a USB port, it can be used as an extended media player. And it can be used to enjoy additional content downloaded from the Internet that may not be found in the Roku Channel Store.

Just be sure to download legal video content from sites like the Internet Archive and never use any Torrent apps to download pirated movies and TV shows which track your IP address unless you use a VPN.

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