What is BLOB data type in MySQL?

 A BLOB is binary large object that can hold a variable amount of data. Followings are some points about BLOB data type −

• BLOB is the family of column type intended as high-capacity binary storage.
• The actual BLOB column type is of four types-TINYBLOB, BLOB, MEDIUMBLOB and LONGBLOB.
• The four BLOB types are very similar to each other; the only difference is the maximum amount of data each can store.

Example − Following example shows how to declare a column as BLOB.

mysql> Create table stock(ID INT, Name VARCHAR(40), PHOTO BLOB, Quantity INT);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.15 sec)

mysql> Describe stock;
+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field    | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| ID       | int(11)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| Name     | varchar(40) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| PHOTO    | blob        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| Quantity | int(11)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
4 rows in set (0.03 sec)