Storing image as base64string (varchar(max)) or varbinary

Question

What are the pro\'s and con\'s of each?

My requirements are:

1. I want to be able to encrypt the image
2. Easily accessible on a mobile device through

Answer 1

Base64 only uses 6 out of 8 bits in a byte. It dates back to the time when emails were transmitted over lines that were not 7 bits safe.

Back then, you'd store the image as a binary blob, because that required 33% less storage space. Then you'd convert it on the fly when a client requests a base64 encoded string. Conversion to base64 is very cheap.

That still makes sense today-- store it as a binary, transmit it like whatever the client requests.