Extract and Split Files from a ZIP Archive

Overview

This workflow demonstrates how to download a ZIP archive, decompress it, and split the contained files into individual binary items for further processing. It's an ideal starting point for anyone learning to handle binary data in n8n, such as processing email attachments, uploaded files, or FTP downloads.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

1. On clicking 'execute' (Manual Trigger) — No auth. This node starts the workflow only when you manually click the "Execute Workflow" button in the editor. No scheduling or webhook is used.

2. Download Example Data (HTTP Request) — No auth. This node fetches a sample ZIP file from a public URL (https://static.thomasmartens.eu/n8n/three_more_files.zip). The response format is set to file, so the downloaded data is stored as binary in the workflow.

3. Decompress Example Data (Compression) — No auth. This node decompresses the ZIP file received from the previous step. It automatically extracts all files inside the archive and passes them as an array of binary items (one per file).

4. Split Up Binary Data (Function) — No auth. This custom JavaScript function iterates over the incoming items and restructures the binary data. For each file, it creates a new item with a json property containing the file name and a binary property with the file's binary data under the key data. This makes it easy to later save, forward, or transform each file individually.

Setup Instructions

No external accounts or credentials are required. Simply import this workflow into your n8n instance and click "Execute Workflow" to see it in action. The sample data is hosted on a public server, so no API keys or authentication are needed.

Use Cases and Variations

• Processing email attachments: Replace the HTTP Request node with an Email Trigger (IMAP) to automatically download and split attachments from incoming emails.
• Handling FTP uploads: Use an FTP Trigger or FTP node to fetch ZIP files from a remote server, then decompress and split them.
• Batch file conversion: After splitting, add nodes like Convert to File or Write Binary File to save each extracted file locally or to cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive, S3).
• Data extraction: If the ZIP contains CSV or JSON files, you can follow this workflow with a Read Binary Files node to parse the data into structured items.

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "On clicking 'execute'",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.manualTrigger",
      "position": [
        240,
        300
      ],
      "parameters": {},
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Split Up Binary Data",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.function",
      "position": [
        900,
        300
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "functionCode": "let results = [];\n\nfor (item of items) {\n    for (key of Object.keys(item.binary)) {\n        results.push({\n            json: {\n                fileName: item.binary[key].fileName\n            },\n            binary: {\n                data: item.binary[key],\n            }\n        });\n    }\n}\n\nreturn results;"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Download Example Data",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
      "position": [
        460,
        300
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "url": "https://static.thomasmartens.eu/n8n/three_more_files.zip",
        "options": {},
        "responseFormat": "file"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Decompress Example Data",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.compression",
      "position": [
        680,
        300
      ],
      "parameters": {},
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "name": "Note",
// ... truncated (copy to see full JSON)