Change images data field from Vec<u8> to Cow<'static, [u8]>

[DrSloth]

What problem does this solve or what need does it fill?

Distributing single binaries is really convenient and somnetimes a very efficient solution. The core question is wether the data field actually has to be a Vec<u8> or if it could be replaced with a Cow which spares memory allocation if the data is already inside the binary.

What solution would you like?

Optimally one would replace the data field with a Cow<'static, [u8]> and fits other functions that need to mutate the buffer to use Cow::to_mut

What alternative(s) have you considered?

This seems to be a rather "niche" case but it could add a lot of value, espacially for "default"/fallback textures.

Additional context

Generally loading Assets without the AssetServer is quite a hassle in my opinion, the documentation on how to create the assets could be improved or there could be a embedded assets asset server io based on rust_embed, but then there would also need to be an easy way to swap the AssetIo of the AssetServer.

[NathanSWard]

Not sure if completely changing the underlying storage type permanently is the best route, however, possibly making it generic over the data type is another solution.
Especially if a Vec<u8> is the common use case, ideally not needing to pay for the extra overhead of a Cow<..> is likely preferred.

struct Image<T: AsRef<[u8]> = Vec<u8>> {
    data: T,
    ..
}

Granted this makes mixing Images with different data types a little more cumbersome.