Can the database hold binary data?
Yes and no. The database should hold any binary data except the null character (0x00). If you use a scheme to guarantee no nulls appear (or are converted somehow), it should work. On the other hand, as someone who has seen the results of hacking a database to put binary data in (and who had the job of maintaining and repairing it), I recommend converting the data into ASCII codes, such as into hex digits.
