File size: 2,767 Bytes
0a84888 |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 |
---
#https://www.notion.so/n8n/Frontmatter-432c2b8dff1f43d4b1c8d20075510fe4
title: Binary data
description: Understand and use binary data in n8n.
contentType: overview
tags:
- binary data
hide:
- tags
---
# Binary data
Binary data is any file-type data, such as image files or documents.
This page collects resources relating to binary data in n8n.
## Working with binary data in your workflows
You can process binary data in n8n workflows. n8n provides nodes to help you work with binary data. You can also use code.
### Nodes
There are three key nodes dedicated to handling binary data files:
- [Read/Write Files from Disk](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.readwritefile.md) to read and write files from/to the machine where n8n is running.
- [Convert to File](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.converttofile.md) to take input data and output it as a file.
- [Extract From File](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.extractfromfile.md) to get data from a binary format and convert it to JSON.
There are separate nodes for working with XML and HTML data:
* [HTML](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.html.md)
* [XML](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.xml.md)
And nodes for performing common tasks:
* [Compression](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.compression.md)
* [Edit Image](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.editimage.md)
* [FTP](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.ftp.md)
You can trigger a workflow based on changes to a local file using the [Local File trigger](/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.localfiletrigger.md).
To split or concatenate binary data items, use the [data transformation nodes](/data/index.md#data-transformation-nodes).
### Code
You can use the [Code node](/code/code-node.md) to manipulate binary data in your workflows. For example, [Get the binary data buffer](/code/cookbook/code-node/get-binary-data-buffer.md): get the binary data available in your workflow.
## Configure binary data mode when self-hosting
You can configure how your self-hosted n8n instance handles binary data using the [Binary data environment variables](/hosting/configuration/environment-variables/binary-data.md). This includes tasks such as setting the storage path and choosing how to store binary data.
Your configuration affects how well n8n scales: [Scaling | Binary data filesystem mode](/hosting/scaling/binary-data.md).
Reading and writing binary files can have security implications. If you want to disable reading and writing binary data, use the `NODES_EXCLUDE` environment variable. Refer to [Environment variables | Nodes](/hosting/configuration/environment-variables/nodes.md) for more information.
|