C.1. Simple binary storage

BSON includes a first-class type for binary data. You can use this type to store binary objects directly inside MongoDB documents. The only limit on object size is the document size limit itself, which is 16 MB as of MongoDB v2.0. Because large documents like this can tax system resources, you’re encouraged to use GridFS for any binary objects you want to store that are larger than 1 MB.

We’ll look at two reasonable uses of binary object storage in single documents. First, you’ll see how to store an image thumbnail. Then, you’ll see how to store the accompanying MD5.