How to Correctly Display Image BLOBs from MySQL in PHP?

PHP Display Image BLOB from MySQL

When attempting to display an image stored in a MySQL BLOB column, some users encounter issues where Chrome or IE display an image icon instead of the actual image. This can be due to the lack of proper encoding and the handling of the binary image data.

Solution

The correct way to display an image BLOB in PHP involves:

• Preparing the Data:

  • Retrieve the image data from the MySQL database using a query (e.g., SELECT * FROM products WHERE id = ?).
  • Store the retrieved image data in a variable (e.g., $image).

• Encoding the Binary Data:

  • Use the base64_encode() function to convert the binary image data into a base64-encoded string. This step is necessary to encode the binary data into a format suitable for displaying as an image.

• Displaying the Image:

  • Set the appropriate HTTP header to specify the image type (e.g., image/jpeg).
  • Output the base64-encoded image data as the image source. For example:

  header("Content-Type: image/jpeg");
  echo '<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,' . base64_encode($image) . '" />';

Note: Ensure that the image data retrieved from the database is valid and that there are no trailing whitespace characters before or after the tags.

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