Should images be stored on a subdomain or subdirectory?

Question

I'm working on a sharing app where images get stored for 24 hours. Does it bring any advantages to store them on a subdomain http://imgs.example.com instead of a subdirectory http://www.example.com/imgs/?

Answer 1

Storing them on a subdomain allows you to host them remotely simply by configuring DNS. This can be a big advantage when you take things like geolocation into consideration. These remote hosts may not be accessible to your web server via protocols that are required to host images in a subdirectory / virtual directory / etc.