How do I store binary data in a MySQL database?
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Please update your question to include details of what you want to achieve (or what you tried and it failed). A simple search gives me how to store and retrieve binary data from a database.verisimilitude– verisimilitude2012-06-11 11:26:41 +00:00Commented Jun 11, 2012 at 11:26
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Please update your question. There is no details on what you are trying to do or what you have done so far.Namphibian– Namphibian2012-06-11 12:48:46 +00:00Commented Jun 11, 2012 at 12:48
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why is this not a duplicate?gloomy.penguin– gloomy.penguin2013-12-07 01:10:59 +00:00Commented Dec 7, 2013 at 1:10
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3 Answers
This question is not so straight forward to answer, as it sounds: There are lots of different binary data usage patterns out there, each with their own caveats and pros and cons. Let me try to summarize:
- Short pieces of binary data, such as password hashes, work very well by simply base64-encoding them and storing the resulting string as a VARCHAR
- "Not-quite-binary" data, such as document snipplets with the occasional non-printable can be escaped and sored as a string
- The BLOB datatype allows you to store arbitrary chunks of binary data, but I strongly recommend against using it: Store the data in a file, then store the path to the file in a String type. You gain nothing from storing binary data, that the DB doesn't "understand" in the DB.
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I would suggest LONGBLOB for storing files in MySQL.
It all depends on what kind of binary and your application.
TINYBLOB - A BLOB column with a maximum length of 255 (2^8 - 1) characters.
BLOB - A BLOB column with a maximum length of 65,535 (2^16 - 1) characters.
MEDIUMBLOB - A BLOB column with a maximum length of 16,777,215 (2^24 - 1) characters.
LONGBLOB - A BLOB column with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295 (2^32 - 1) characters.
