Possible Duplicates:
Images in MySQL
Storing images in MySQL
I'm trying to develop a website where users upload their images as part of registration. I want it that for each image, there should be a thumb created with PHP (which is not that difficult). I want to save the thumbs (since they are very small) in the database and I use MySQL. (I don't want to save the thumbs as physical files on the drive.)
Does MySQL allow saving and retrieving image data and how do I go about it? If it doesn't support image data, is there any free database that does? I will be happy if a link can be provided.
Thanks.
Answer
Yes, you can store images in the database, but it's not advisable in my opinion, and it's not general practice.
A general practice is to store images in directories on the file system and store references to the images in the database. e.g. path to the image,the image name, etc.. Or alternatively, you may even store images on a content delivery network (CDN) or numerous hosts across some great expanse of physical territory, and store references to access those resources in the database.
Images can get quite large, greater than 1MB. And so storing images in a database can potentially put unnecessary load on your database and the network between your database and your web server if they're on different hosts.
I've worked at startups, mid-size companies and large technology companies with 400K+ employees. In my 13 years of professional experience, I've never seen anyone store images in a database. I say this to support the statement it is an uncommon practice.