ɐn ˌiːˌɛspˈiː kəntˈeɪnz ðə bˈuːt lˈoʊdɚz ɔːɹ kˈɜːnəl ˈɪmɪdʒᵻz fɔːɹ ˈɔːl ɪnstˈɔːld ˈɑːpɚɹˌeɪɾɪŋ sˈɪstəmz wˌɪtʃ ɑːɹ kəntˈeɪnd ɪn ˈʌðɚ pɑːɹtˈɪʃənz, dɪvˈaɪs dɹˈaɪvɚ fˈaɪlz fɔːɹ hˈɑːɹdwɛɹ dɪvˈaɪsᵻz pɹˈɛzənt ɪn ɐ kəmpjˈuːɾɚ ænd jˈuːzd baɪ ðə fˈɜːmwɛɹ æt bˈuːt tˈaɪm, sˈɪstəm juːtˈɪlᵻɾi pɹˈoʊɡɹæmz ðæt ɑːɹ ɪntˈɛndᵻd təbi ɹˈʌn bᵻfˌoːɹ ɐn ˈɑːpɚɹˌeɪɾɪŋ sˈɪstəm ɪz bˈuːɾᵻd, ænd dˈeɪɾə fˈaɪlz sˈʌtʃ ɐz ˈɛɹɚ lˈɔɡz.
An ESP contains the boot loaders or kernel images for all installed operating systems (which are contained in other partitions), device driver files for hardware devices present in a computer and used by the firmware at boot time, system utility programs that are intended to be run before an operating system is booted, and data files such as error logs.