# Database Discussions > Oracle >  BLOB vs CLOB

## sips

1. Could you please tell me the advantages of CLOB over BLOB( i have searched in most of the sites but there is no clear definition except --> CLOB is used to store character data and BLOB is used to store Binary data. Could you please elaborate it) 

2. Suppose i have a text file(EDI format) if i store it in CLOB how much space it will take    and will it take the same space if stored in BLOB.

3. Will there be any performance improvement in Storing/retreiving a text file in CLOB instead of storing it in a BLOB.

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## tombest

You would be handcuffing yourself if you put text data in BLOB.  Allow yourself to take advantage of the textness of CLOB.  Text indexing, actually being able to VIEW the data as text from a select in sqlplus, etc.  I havn't benchmarked it, but I can't imagine the two formats taking up different amounts of space for the same data.

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