In the context of PHP scripts, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using a database for managing image data compared to directly reading from the filesystem?

When managing image data in PHP scripts, using a database to store the images can provide advantages such as easier organization, searchability, and scalability. However, it may introduce overhead in terms of performance and complexity compared to directly reading from the filesystem.

// Example PHP code snippet for storing image data in a database

// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "images_db";
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Insert image data into the database
$imageData = file_get_contents('image.jpg');
$sql = "INSERT INTO images (image_data) VALUES (?)";
$stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bind_param("b", $imageData);
$stmt->execute();

// Close the database connection
$conn->close();