So I am working on something in php where I have to get my images from a sql database where they will be encoded in base64. The speed of displaying these images is critical so I am trying to figure out if it would be faster turn the database data into an image file and then load it in the browser, or just echo the raw base64 data and use:
<img src='data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQ...' /> Which is supported in FireFox and other Gecko browsers.
So to recap, would it be faster to transfer an actual image file or the base64 code. Would it require less http request when using ajax to load the images?
The images would be no more than 100 pixels total.
Well I don’t agree with anyone of you. There are cases when you’ve to load more and more images. Not all the pages contain 3 images at all. Actually I’m working on a site where you’ve to load more than 200 images. What happens when 100000 users request that 200 images on a very loaded site. The disks of the server, returning the images should collapse. Even worse you’ve to make so much request to the server instead of one with base64. For so much thumbnails I’d prefer the base64 representation, pre-saved in the database. I found the solution and a strong argumentation at http://www.stoimen.com/2009/04/23/when-you-should-use-base64-for-images/. The guy is really in that case and made some tests. I was impressed and make my tests as well. The reality is like it says. For so much images loaded in one page the one response from the server is really helpful.