Is the sequence file format supported by any other file system apart from HDFS? I am specifically interested in whether the sequence file format can be used for merging and storing the small files on filesystems like e.g. HFS+ or NTFS.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Sequence files are not limited to HDFS in any way. You can use Sequence Files with any general purpose file system including NTFS and HFS+.
They are in no way special in this regard when compared to other binary files.