In SQL, BLOB stands for "Binary Large Object" and is a data type used to store binary data, such as multimedia files, documents, and executable files, in a database. BLOBs are stored as binary data in a BLOB column of a table. The four BLOB types are TINYBLOB, BLOB, MEDIUMBLOB, and LONGBLOB, which differ only in the maximum length of the values they can hold. BLOB values are treated as binary strings and have the binary character set and collation.
SQL Server provides solutions for storing BLOBs in the database or on remote storage devices, such as FILESTREAM, FileTables, and Remote Blob Store. FILESTREAM enables SQL Server-based applications to store unstructured data, such as documents and images, on the file system. FileTables allow files and documents to be stored in special tables in SQL Server, but accessed from Windows applications as if they were stored in the file system. Remote Blob Store (RBS) for SQL Server lets database administrators store BLOBs in commodity storage solutions instead of directly on the server, which saves space and avoids wasting expensive server hardware resources.
In summary, BLOB is a data type used to store binary data in a database, and SQL Server provides various solutions for storing BLOBs in the database or on remote storage devices.
