Storing File Sizes in a Database
I am currently working on a system that involves storing multiple studies and details of their contents (A study can typically contain 1 < X < ~2000 images). My colleagues and I were discussing what might be the best method of storing files sizes (specifically the image sizes) in a database would be.
The file sizes typically range from < 1kB to > 20MB.
We are currently debating between storing the images sizes as:
# of kilobytes (as an integer value)
# of bytes (as a large integer value)
# of megabytes (possibly as a decimal value)
Other Options...
I haven't worked with storing file sizes much and was wondering what might be the most efficient / practical method of accomplishing this?
Answer
If you're going to explicitly store the size at all, store the number of bytes. There is just too much confusion/ambiguity when using other units.
Example: different people might interpret kb as:
- kilobytes
- kilobits
- kibibytes
- kibibits
...and how big is a kilobyte, anyway?
That said, if you're storing the actual data in your database, I do not see an immediately compelling reason to explicitly store the length of the data at all.