Embedded Pics Create Huge File Size

[Rylinkus]

I'd read a few places that embedding pics wasnt the greatest of ideas, but I thought that 1 JPG embedded onto 2 forms would be ok and would prevent the pic from being deleted or moved. (Theyre always screwing with the server here.) But it's making my DB huge.

No pics embedded
Size: 808kB

1 Pic Embedded into 2 forms
Pic Size: 156k JPG
DB Size: 135 MB

Is this normal? I could understand a 156k pic adding somewhere around 156k to my DB, but 134 megs? Anyone have any insight?

 

[ByteMyzer]

Typically, before the image is stored in the OLE field, the jpg is de-compressed and the image data is stored in BMP format, which can result in a significantly larger amount of file space consumed by the stored image. This could account for the huge bloat in file size.

 

[workmad3]

Use linked pics instead, much smaller file sizes, and easier to change without messing around with controls

 

[Rylinkus]

I don't feel overly comfortable with linking to pics as our servers are undergoing constant upgrades/repairs/backups and stuff tends to move. It's hard enough to find what you need to find, let alone have to worry about linked pics being where theyre supposed to be.

That being said, if it's being converted to BMP prior to being embedded, if I were to convert to BMP first and make sure we're dealing with a small BMP file, would that help alleviate the issue?

 

[dsigner]

A linked pic can be in the same folder as the database file. Surely your server will keep the whole folder together. If not you will have a few other problems to worry about as well.