What are the potential pitfalls of generating thumbnails at runtime instead of storing them on the server?

Generating thumbnails at runtime can slow down page load times and consume server resources, especially if there are a large number of images on the page. This can lead to decreased performance and increased server costs. Storing thumbnails on the server allows for quicker access and reduces the strain on the server when loading pages with multiple images. 

// Check if the thumbnail exists on the server, if not, generate and store it
if (!file_exists('thumbnails/' . $image)) {
    // Generate thumbnail code here
    // Store thumbnail on the server
}
// Display the thumbnail
echo '<img src="thumbnails/' . $image . '" alt="Thumbnail">';

Keywords

image processing performance GD library caching file storage

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