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Posted by Andrew Barber
Andrew Barber
3,865 Points

Storing an image in mySQL

Hi Guys,

The title says it all. What is the best way of storing an image or image url into a mysql database?

I'm looking to display the image within an iphone app which I am working on.

Thanks!

2 Answers

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

There's a datatype in SQL called a blob that's what you want to use.

Andrew Barber
Andrew Barber
3,865 Points

Thanks for the reply James.

I wasnt too sure how to use it as I'm still learning about mySQL.

Someone told me that I could store the image URL as a varchar too, is this correct and is there much of a difference between the two types?

image_url varchar(2083) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL

Many Thanks, Andrew

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Andrew B - There's a big difference between the 2. In one case you are storing the image somewhere like on a CDN maybe and you have a link in stored in a database. On the other hand you are storing the actual image in the database itself.