We used to store files as base64 strings in Postgres, but not anymore

blog.mailpace.com

Large object (aka BLOBs) and bytea are also both options with Postgres over and above saving base64-encoded text.

That said, for email attachment storage, the article is right to consider separate file storage, though you must take take to keep the file store and DB in sync.

Yes, good point! We did actually consider that but realized it would just mean a bit of compression on that field in database - which would have helped, but not fully solved the problem.

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