According to one embodiment, a memory system includes a semiconductor memory device including a memory cell capable of holding at least 4-bit data and a controller configured to control a first write operation and a second write operation based on the 4-bit data. The controller includes a conversion circuit configured to convert 4-bit data into 2-bit data. The semiconductor memory device includes a recovery controller configured to recover the 4-bit data based on the converted 2-bit data and data written in the memory cell by the first write operation. The first write operation is executed based on the 4-bit data received from the controller, and the second write operation is executed based on the 4-bit data recovered by the recovery controller.