diff --git a/app/Models/Emote.php b/app/Models/Emote.php
index 0f7cbed..2faa719 100644
--- a/app/Models/Emote.php
+++ b/app/Models/Emote.php
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ class Emote extends Model
     protected $casts = [
         'emote_id' => 'string',
         'guild_id' => 'string',
+        'image' => 'string',
     ];
 
     public function logs()
diff --git a/app/Services/UpdateEmoteImages.php b/app/Services/UpdateEmoteImages.php
index 60e8005..81b27b1 100644
--- a/app/Services/UpdateEmoteImages.php
+++ b/app/Services/UpdateEmoteImages.php
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 namespace App\Services;
 
+use App\Models\Emote;
+use GuzzleHttp\Client;
 use Laracord\Services\Service;
 
 class UpdateEmoteImages extends Service
@@ -9,7 +11,7 @@ class UpdateEmoteImages extends Service
     /**
      * The service interval.
      */
-    protected int $interval = 600; // 10 minutes
+    protected int $interval = 5; // 10 minutes
 
     /**
      * Handle the service.
@@ -22,8 +24,14 @@ class UpdateEmoteImages extends Service
             return;
         }
 
+        $client = new Client;
+
         foreach ($guild->emojis as $emoji) {
-            $emote = \App\Models\Emote::where('emote_id', $emoji->id)->whereIn('type', ['ANIMATED', 'STATIC'])->whereNull('image')->first();
+            $emote = Emote::where('emote_id', $emoji->id)
+                ->whereIn('type', ['ANIMATED', 'STATIC'])
+                ->whereNull('image')
+                ->first();
+
             if (! $emote) {
                 continue;
             }
@@ -32,11 +40,15 @@ class UpdateEmoteImages extends Service
             $url = "https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/{$emoji->id}.{$ext}";
 
             try {
-                $client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client;
                 $response = $client->get($url);
                 if ($response->getStatusCode() === 200) {
-                    $stream = $response->getBody()->detach();
-                    $emote->image = $stream;
+                    $imageBinary = (string) $response->getBody();
+
+                    if ($imageBinary === '') {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+
+                    $emote->image = base64_encode($imageBinary);
                     $emote->save();
                 }
             } catch (\Exception $e) {
diff --git a/database/migrations/2026_02_20_000000_change_emote_image_to_text.php b/database/migrations/2026_02_20_000000_change_emote_image_to_text.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..712b6c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/migrations/2026_02_20_000000_change_emote_image_to_text.php
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?php
+
+use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
+use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
+
+return new class extends Migration
+{
+    /**
+     * Run the migrations.
+     */
+    public function up(): void
+    {
+        Schema::table('emotes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            $table->dropColumn('image');
+        });
+
+        Schema::table('emotes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            $table->text('image')->nullable()->after('type');
+        });
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Reverse the migrations.
+     */
+    public function down(): void
+    {
+        Schema::table('emotes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            $table->dropColumn('image');
+        });
+
+        Schema::table('emotes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            $table->binary('image')->nullable()->after('type');
+        });
+    }
+};
diff --git a/resources/views/components/homepage.blade.php b/resources/views/components/homepage.blade.php
index 643cbca..3cca32c 100644
--- a/resources/views/components/homepage.blade.php
+++ b/resources/views/components/homepage.blade.php
@@ -6,7 +6,18 @@
       return $placeholderImage;
     }
 
-    $binary = (string) $image;
+    $value = (string) $image;
+
+    if (str_starts_with($value, 'data:image/')) {
+      return $value;
+    }
+
+    $binary = base64_decode($value, true);
+
+    if ($binary === false || $binary === '') {
+      return $placeholderImage;
+    }
+
     $mime = 'image/png';
 
     if (str_starts_with($binary, 'GIF8')) {