When considering file storage, it should be noted that files added to Content Services can be of almost any type, and include images, photos, binary document files (Word, PPT, Excel), as well as text files (HTML, XML, plain text). Some binary files such as videos and music files can be relatively large. Content store files are located on the disk, rather than in the database as BLOBs. There are several reasons for this:
- It removes incompatibility issues across database vendors.
- The random file access support cannot be provided by database persistence without first copying files to the file system.
- Possibility of real-time streaming (for direct streaming of files to browser).
- Standard database access would be difficult when using BLOBs as the most efficient BLOB APIs are vendor-specific.
- Faster access.