Binary data

File-based configuration

You can add _FILE to individual variables to provide their configuration in a separate file. Refer to Keeping sensitive data in separate files for more details.

By default, n8n uses memory to store binary data. Enterprise users can choose to use an external service instead. Refer to External storage for more information on using external storage for binary data.

Variable	Type	Default	Description
N8N_AVAILABLE_BINARY_DATA_MODES	String	filesystem	A comma separated list of available binary data modes.
N8N_BINARY_DATA_DATABASE_MAX_FILE_SIZE	Number	512	Maximum size (in MiB) of a single file n8n stores when N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE is database. Can't exceed 1024, the limit of a database column. Storing a larger file fails.
N8N_BINARY_DATA_STORAGE_PATH	String	N8N_USER_FOLDER/binaryData	The path where n8n stores binary data.
N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE	String	default	The default binary data mode. default keeps binary data in memory. Set to filesystem to use the filesystem, s3 to use AWS S3, azure to use Azure Blob Storage, or database to use the DB. Note that binary data pruning operates on the active binary data mode. For example, if your instance stored data in S3, and you later switched to filesystem mode, n8n only prunes binary data in the filesystem. This may change in future.