diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/api.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/api.py
index 69ed66a6..a2539cb1 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/api.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/api.py
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 import hashlib
 import json
 import mimetypes
-import os
 from collections import OrderedDict
 
-from django.conf import settings
-from django.core.files import File
 from django.http import Http404, HttpResponse, HttpResponseNotModified
 from rest_framework.decorators import detail_route, list_route
 from rest_framework.response import Response
@@ -156,9 +153,7 @@ class SourceViewSet(CachedReadOnlyViewSetMixin, ReadOnlyModelViewSet):
     def _image(self, request, name=None):
         source = self.get_object()
         response = HttpResponse(content_type=mimetypes.guess_type(source.name)[0])
-        image_path = os.path.join(settings.MAP_ROOT, source.package.directory, 'sources', source.name)
-        for chunk in File(open(image_path, 'rb')).chunks():
-            response.write(chunk)
+        response.write(source.image)
         return response
 
 
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/migrations/0038_source_image.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/migrations/0038_source_image.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5cabeb28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/migrations/0038_source_image.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Generated by Django 1.10.4 on 2017-05-01 14:41
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import os
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+def save_images_to_db(apps, schema_editor):
+    Source = apps.get_model('mapdata', 'Source')
+    for source in Source.objects.all():
+        image_path = os.path.join(settings.MAP_ROOT, source.package.directory, 'sources', source.name)
+        source.image = open(image_path, 'rb').read()
+        source.save()
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ('mapdata', '0037_auto_20170428_0902'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='source',
+            name='image',
+            field=models.BinaryField(default=b'', verbose_name='image data'),
+            preserve_default=False,
+        ),
+        migrations.RunPython(save_images_to_db),
+    ]
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/models/source.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/models/source.py
index 1799702d..776ced00 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/models/source.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/models/source.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ class Source(MapItem):
     left = models.DecimalField(_('left coordinate'), max_digits=6, decimal_places=2)
     top = models.DecimalField(_('top coordinate'), max_digits=6, decimal_places=2)
     right = models.DecimalField(_('right coordinate'), max_digits=6, decimal_places=2)
+    image = models.BinaryField(_('image data'))  # todo migrate to better storage
 
     class Meta:
         verbose_name = _('Source')