There are two binary data types:

Binary columns can contain data such as graphic images, which cannot easily be stored using character or numeric data types. The binary data types are described in the following sections.

The byte data type is a fixed length binary data type. If the length of the data assigned to a byte column is less than the declared length of the column, the value is padded with zeros to the declared length when it is stored in a table. The minimum length of a byte column is 1 byte, and the maximum length is limited by the maximum row width configured but not exceeding 32,000.

The byte varying data type is a variable length data type. The actual length of the binary data is stored with the binary data, and, unlike the byte data type, the data is not padded to its declared length. The minimum length of a byte varying column is 1 byte, and the maximum length is limited by the maximum row width configured, but not exceeding 32,000.