MySQL Reference Manual :: 14.1.3.1 Static (Fixed-Length) Table Characteristics

Static format is the default for MyISAM tables. It is used when the table contains no variable-length columns (VARCHAR, BLOB, or TEXT). Each row is stored using a fixed number of bytes.

Of the three MyISAM storage formats, static format is the simplest and most secure (least subject to corruption). It is also the fastest of the on-disk formats. The speed comes from the easy way that rows in the data file can be found on disk: When looking up a row based on a row number in the index, multiply the row number by the row length. Also, when scanning a table, it is very easy to read a constant number of records with each disk read operation.

The security is evidenced if your computer crashes while the MySQL server is writing to a fixed-format MyISAM file. In this case, myisamchk can easily determine where each row starts and ends, so it can usually reclaim all records except the partially written one. Note that MyISAM table indexes can always be reconstructed based on the data rows.

General characteristics of static format tables: