What are the best practices for handling binary data, such as images, in PHP when retrieving them from a database?

When handling binary data, such as images, in PHP retrieved from a database, it is important to use proper encoding and decoding techniques to ensure data integrity. One common approach is to store the binary data in the database as a BLOB (Binary Large OBject) type and retrieve it using PHP's base64_encode() and base64_decode() functions. This allows for seamless handling of binary data without corruption.

// Retrieve binary data from the database
$imageData = base64_encode($row['image_blob']);

// Display the image on the webpage
echo '<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,' . $imageData . '" />';