Best way of uploading files? Base64 via php, ftp etc

I’ve strayed into foreign territory a little for my new project, so please forgive me for my ignorance of all things network-y. I need to be able to upload binary files (images, mp3s etc) to a central server, and retrieve them from another device.

I have managed to achieve this in two ways:

  1. Encoding the binary into a base64 string, and decoding it with a php script on my server, using this as a guide:

http://developer.coronalabs.com/code/upload-binary-corona-php-script

The snag I’ve hit is that the uploaded file on my server is over two times the size of the original binary. It works fine, but it looks like the encode/decode process is adding some unwanted bloat to the file.

Is there a way to prevent this happening?
2) Upload the file via FTP using Graham Ranson’s FTP helper code:

http://developer.coronalabs.com/code/ftp-helper

This also works fine, but there’s a security/bottleneck concern with lots of users logging into my ftp server at once.

What other options do I have? I could use something like Amazon S3 but I’m loathe to pay for the storage/bandwidth costs. Are my concerns regarding using FTP as a method justified? [import]uid: 93133 topic_id: 29029 reply_id: 329029[/import]

My suggestion would be to use FTP initially if you are concerned about Amazon S3 costs; if you get a lot of usage it would be easy to upgrade. Alternatively I suppose if you anticipate a lot of usage you could start with Amazon S3 and switch to FTP later. [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 29029 reply_id: 116873[/import]