title: How to store large Strings saving empty space
body: <p>I am trying to save some xml into my mysql-database. But these chunks of xml can vary from 1000 to 1000000 characters. How can I save this into my database without reserving 100kb for each string, even if it is only 1kb long? </p>
  
  <p>Edit:</p>
  
  <p>I have checked <a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/storage-requirements.html" rel="nofollow">http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/storage-requirements.html</a>
  They say, Text is stored in blocks of 2000 characters. Interesting is, that changing MEDIUMTEXT to LONGTEXT changes 22kb to 100kb. The textsize was the same, so it should remain on about 4000b (4kb)</p>
  
  <p>Do you have any idea why this happens and how to prevent it?</p>