{
  "slug": "tlc",
  "term": "Triple-level cell (TLC)",
  "aliases": [
    "3 bits per cell"
  ],
  "definition": "NAND flash that stores three bits per cell using eight charge levels, common in consumer and many enterprise SSDs.",
  "note": "Triple-Level Cell NAND stores three bits per cell across eight voltage levels. Narrower margins than SLC/MLC increase program time and reduce raw endurance, which controllers offset with over-provisioning, strong ECC, and often an SLC-mode write cache. TLC (especially 3D TLC) is the dominant media class in client SSDs and many datacenter read-intensive or mixed-use drives as of the mid-2020s. It is not a protocol or form factor—pair TLC with SATA/NVMe and client vs enterprise firmware when comparing SKUs. Endurance (TBW/DWPD) must come from the specific datasheet, not from the “TLC” label alone.",
  "status": "shipping",
  "advantages": [],
  "limitations": [],
  "related": [
    "qlc",
    "mlc",
    "consumer-ssd",
    "enterprise-ssd"
  ],
  "supersedes": [
    "mlc"
  ],
  "supersededBy": [
    "qlc"
  ],
  "firstSeen": {
    "date": "2015",
    "citationIds": [
      "c1"
    ]
  },
  "lastSeen": null,
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "title": "Triple-level cell",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-level_cell",
      "accessed": "2026-03-26"
    },
    {
      "id": "n2",
      "title": "Samsung — Evaluating MLC vs TLC vs V-NAND",
      "url": "https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/SamsungUS/b2b/resource/2015/11/25/WHP-SSD-MLCvsTLC-OCT15J_1.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-10-07"
    },
    {
      "id": "n3",
      "title": "SNIA — NVMe, SAS, and SATA SSD endurance white paper",
      "url": "https://www.snia.org/sites/default/files/SSSI/NVMe_SAS_SATA_Endurance_White_Paper.pdf",
      "accessed": "2026-10-07"
    }
  ]
}