Mt8163 Scatter File

The MediaTek MT8163 is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 SoC commonly found in tablets, POS devices, and industrial Android boards. When working with low-level firmware flashing, the scatter file (.txt) is the essential map that tells the flash tool how to write raw data to the eMMC/NAND partitions.

A Scatter File (typically MT8163_Android_scatter.txt) is a crucial configuration document used exclusively by MediaTek’s Flash Tool (e.g., SP Flash Tool, SP Multi-Port Download Tool). It acts as a partition table map for the device’s flash memory (eMMC). For the MT8163 SoC—a 64-bit, quad-core Cortex-A53 tablet/embedded platform—this file defines exactly where each firmware component (preloader, bootloader, system, etc.) resides in physical memory.

Without a valid scatter file, the flash tool cannot locate, flash, or back up individual partitions.

With read back in SP Flash Tool, the scatter file tells the tool where to dump userdata or boot for forensic analysis. mt8163 scatter file

Let’s break down a typical scatter file for MT8163. Below is an annotated example of the most critical sections:

# General Setting
general: MTK_NAND_PAGE_SIZE = 0x2000
general: MTK_NAND_PAGES_PER_BLOCK = 0x40
general: MTK_EMMC_BOOT1_SIZE = 0x400000
general: MTK_EMMC_BOOT2_SIZE = 0x400000
partition_index: SYS0
  partition_name: preloader
  file_name: preloader_mt8163.bin
  is_download: true
  type: SV5_BL_BIN
  linear_start_addr: 0x0
  physical_start_addr: 0x0
  partition_size: 0x400000
  region: EMMC_BOOT_1
partition_index: SYS1
partition_name: pgpt
file_name: NONE
is_download: false
type: NORMAL_ROM
linear_start_addr: 0x0
physical_start_addr: 0x0
partition_size: 0x80000
region: EMMC_USER
partition_index: SYS2
partition_name: proinfo
file_name: NONE
is_download: false
type: NORMAL_ROM
linear_start_addr: 0x80000
physical_start_addr: 0x80000
partition_size: 0x300000
region: EMMC_USER Click  Download
... (more partitions like nvram, protect1, protect2, seccfg, lk, boot, recovery, para, logo, expdb, system, cache, userdata, etc.)
partition_index: SYS34
partition_name: system
file_name: system.img
is_download: true
type: EXT4_IMG
linear_start_addr: 0x1A88000
physical_start_addr: 0x1A88000
partition_size: 0x80000000
region: EMMC_USER

Some firmware builds include a bmtpool partition for Bad Block Management Table. If present, never format it; it contains eMMC defect mapping.

If you've ever worked with MediaTek's MT8163 (a popular quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 tablet SoC), you've likely encountered a scatter file. This seemingly simple text file is the blueprint that tells flashing tools exactly where to write each piece of firmware on the device's storage.