BYTEA

Pg 9.4+
Storing binary data using bytea or text data types
- Pluses
- Storing and Accessing entry utilizes the same interface when accessing any other data type or record.
- No need to track OID of a "large object" you create

- Minus

- bytea and text data type both use TOAST (details here)
- limited to 1G per entry
- 4 Billion (> 2KB) entries per table max.

- Need to escape/encode binary data before sending to DB then do the reverse after retrieving the data
- Memory requirements on the server can be steep even on a small record set. 
https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/BinaryFilesInDB

Do I  really Need to escape/encode binary data before sending to DB then do the reverse after retrieving the data?
If so, what (Java) codes should I use to achieve this goal (I am using the Java to interface with the DB)?

Thanks
Eugene