How to store pictures/videos on the server?

Question

PHP

I'm wondering how large sites organize file storage?
For example vkontakte.
Do they use some kind of file storage or is everything stored in folders?
How to store files correctly so that they can be easily used on the site itself and inserted into html players?

Answer 1

Do they use some kind of file storage or is everything stored in folders?

Incorrect question. Are there no folders in the file storages? These are also computers. And they also have file systems. No one in their right mind would store millions of files in unstructured storage. Searching among millions of files for what you need will be unreasonably long.

Answer 2

Use separate file servers.

Answer 3

Storage
The engine is designed to store user data - photos, videos, audio, documents. By storing different content in a single file and indexing into offset memory, Storage does this better than the classic approach of storing individual files in the file system.

Source: https://habrahabr.ru/company/vkontakte/blog/214877/
VK store everything in one file