# Storing binary data in ES
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/storing-binary-data-in-es/185437
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 12, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/storing-binary-data-in-es/185437 "2019-06-12T14:17:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Paul-Matthieu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Paul-Matthieu)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/storing-binary-data-in-es/185437/1 "2019-06-12T14:17:35Z")
Hi
I'm relatively new to ES. Here is what I am trying to achieve : I'm indexing documents that have various metadatas and a data field that is just a binary blob (it's not particularly big). I do not need to search that field, I'm just querying on the metadatas. So far the way I do this is by encoding this binary blob in base64 and put it in a non-indexed text field in ES.
My question is: would it make a big difference in terms of storage and performance to store this binary blob in a [binary field](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/binary.html), vs what I am currently doing ? Can I have a little more explanation on how ES handles binary storage internally ? A binary field would slightly complicate my data flow so I'm trying to figure out f there is a storage/performance gain worth the change.
Thanks a lot for your help !
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/storing-binary-data-in-es/185437/2 "2019-07-10T14:32:01Z")
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