title: Storing Small Images as Blob Data In MySQL
body: <p>I read about storing blob data in tables a few years ago and thought it was a fantastic idea to store images for blog posts, but after reading the sheer number of negative points about the affect it has on page run time made me dismiss it.</p>
  
  <p>I eventually created a php upload system for blobs and after looking at the data for several images I'd uploaded, I could see how a growing number of images could eventually cause a problem.</p>
  
  <p>However, uploading small images (<code>120px x 120px</code>) produced quite a short number of characters in the blob data cell, about the same as a short news article that I would write for my sites newsfeed.</p>
  
  <p>So, what is the deal with blob data? Does it really slow down database performance, and at what sort of size does it become a problem? I'd like to produce a small 120 x 120 thumbnail for each post, but don't particularly want to upload the physical file.</p>