How to store AES encrypted information in MySQL database

Question

I have a piece of information which is encoded using aes-256-cbc encryption. How should I store it in the database? Currently I'm using VARCHAR(255) utf8_bin. Is this OK or should I use other field type like VARBINARY(255)? Is there a possibility of losing some data using VARCHAR in this case? Thanks.

Answer 1

The possible (in)appropriateness of storing encrypted (as opposed to hashed) passwords in a database notwithstanding, AES ciphertext is binary data, and therefore should be stored as such, i.e. in a BINARY / VARBINARY column or a BLOB.

It's also possible to encode the ciphertext e.g. as base64, and then store it in a text (i.e. CHAR / VARCHAR / TEXT) column. This is less space-efficient, but it may sometimes be more convenient, e.g. when inspecting the data visually or passing it between programs that may have trouble dealing with fields containing arbitrary binary data.