php - Base 64 encode vs loading an image file

Question

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.

Answer 1

• Base64 encoding makes the file bigger and therefore slower to transfer.
• By including the image in the page, it has to be downloaded every time. External images are normally only downloaded once and then cached by the browser.
• It isn't compatible with all browsers