Can i insert an image in a MYSQL DB table?

Question

is there a way to insert pics(not url,the pic)into a MYSQL table made with phpmyadmin? and if there is when i want to get that picture and insert it in the page , what should i do? :)

Answer 1

It is possible (using the BLOB type) but it is almost always better to just store the image in the filesystem and just store the path to the image in the database.

A few reasons why off the top of my head:

1. BLOBs will balloon the size of your database, making backups and restores potentially more difficult (although some might argue that it makes it easier since you only have to back up the database rather than the database plus a bunch of files).

2. Storing the data as BLOBs could cause performance issues if you have lazy code that uses select *.

3. Serving the images from the filesystem will be faster than serving them from the database, and reduce load on the db server.

4. You get some flexibility with where you serve images - for example if you want to move them to a CDN in the future.

Answer 2

If you'll be fetching the image often, you'd probably be better off storing it as a file and saving the path to it, to save you a database run on fetching the image.

Otherwise, store the content of the image file in a BLOB column, and then print <img src="image.php?id=1234" /> in the HTML.

image.php should look up the image with ID 1234 in the database, fetch the contents of that BLOB column, and print it after serving the correct HTTP header, e.g. header('Content-type: image/gif');

But seriously. Just save the image file. It's much less of a pain, I promise.

Answer 3

I think it's an excellent idea to put the images in the database. Especially if it should handle uploaded images. (Easier to maintain in terms of backups and consistency imo.)

A good tutorial is found here.

One should keep in mind to store and respond with the proper mime-type of the image in the database. (Especially if you're dealing with user uploaded images.)