To make it easier to use code written for SQL implementations from other vendors, MySQL maps column types as shown in the following table. These mappings make it easier to import table definitions from other database engines into MySQL:
| Other Vendor Type | MySQL Type |
| BINARY(M) | CHAR(M) BINARY |
| CHAR VARYING(M) | VARCHAR(M) |
| FLOAT4 | FLOAT |
| FLOAT8 | DOUBLE |
| INT1 | TINYINT |
| INT2 | SMALLINT |
| INT3 | MEDIUMINT |
| INT4 | INT |
| INT8 | BIGINT |
| LONG VARBINARY | MEDIUMBLOB |
| LONG VARCHAR | MEDIUMTEXT |
| LONG | MEDIUMTEXT (MySQL 4.1.0 on) |
| MIDDLEINT | MEDIUMINT |
| VARBINARY(M) | VARCHAR(M) BINARY |
Column type mapping occurs at table creation time, after which the original type specifications are discarded. If you create a table with types used by other vendors and then issue a DESCRIBE tbl_name statement, MySQL reports the table structure using the equivalent MySQL types.