Compression

Compress and decompress files using zip or gzip

Overview

The Compression tool performs local file compression and decompression. It supports two formats: zip (combine multiple files into a single archive) and gzip (compress/decompress individual files). For zip compression, it uses smart compression levels — already-compressed formats (jpg, png, pdf, zip, etc.) are stored without re-compression (level 0), while other formats use standard compression (level 6). For zip decompression, it extracts all files from the archive into separate binary properties, filtering out macOS resource fork artifacts (__MACOSX entries). For gzip, it compresses or decompresses individual binary properties. No external API calls — all processing is performed locally.

Category: Core Nodes
Tool Name: compression
Version: 1

Appearance: Icon: lucide-Archive | Color: #408000

Node Type

Action (Binary) — handles file/binary data operations

Input / Output

Direction	Port(s)
Input	Input
Output	Output, Error

Credentials

This tool does not require any credentials.

Operations

Operation	Value	Description
Compress	compress	Compress files into a zip or gzip archive
Decompress	decompress	Decompress zip or gzip archives

Parameters

Compress (compress)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Input Binary Field(s)	string	Yes	data	The name of the input binary field(s) containing the file(s). To process more than one file, use a comma-separated list of binary field names. Names are case-sensitive — see the upstream node’s Binary Data panel for the exact names to use.
Output Format	options	No	zip	Format of the compressed output.
				Options: gzip, zip
File Name	string	Yes	—	Name of the output zip file. (shown when Output Format is zip)
File Name	string	No	—	Name of the output file (optional). If not set, uses original filename. (shown when Output Format is gzip)
Put Output File in Field	string	No	data	The name of the output binary field to put the compressed file in. Names are case-sensitive — see the upstream node’s Binary Data panel for the exact names to use.

Decompress (decompress)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Input Binary Field(s)	string	Yes	data	The name of the input binary field(s) containing the file(s) to decompress. To process more than one file, use a comma-separated list of binary field names. Names are case-sensitive — see the upstream node’s Binary Data panel for the exact names to use.
Output Prefix	string	Yes	file_	Prefix to add to decompressed file binary property names (e.g. file_0, file_1, …).

All Operations

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Max Concurrency	number	No	10	Maximum number of items to process concurrently.

Output Data

One output item per input item. The item JSON passes through unchanged — this node writes nothing to json. What changes is the binary: the node replaces the item’s binary properties with the files it produced, so a property you did not name as an output no longer exists downstream. Keep a copy upstream if you still need the originals.

Operation and format	Binary properties on the output item
Compress, zip	One property, named by Put Output File in Field. Its file name is File Name (or archive.zip when left empty) and its MIME type is application/zip. Every named input field becomes an entry inside the archive, stored under that field’s original file name.
Compress, gzip	One property per named input field: the first is Put Output File in Field, the rest get a numeric suffix (data, data1, data2, …). Each file name ends in .gz and the MIME type is application/gzip.
Decompress, zip archive	One property per archive entry, numbered from the Output Prefix (file_0, file_1, …). Each keeps the entry’s path from inside the archive as its file name, and its MIME type is detected from that name. macOS __MACOSX resource-fork entries are skipped.
Decompress, gzip file	One property per named input field, numbered from the Output Prefix. The original name and extension are recovered from the archive’s file name where possible (data.json.gz becomes data.json), and the MIME type follows from it.

Reference the result downstream by binary property name, for example by setting a later node’s Input Binary Field to file_0.

Decompress identifies the archive format from the file name of the incoming binary, not from its contents: the name must end in .zip, .gz or .gzip. A binary with no extension, or with any other extension, fails that item.

Usage Examples

• Compress multiple files into a zip archive
• Decompress a zip file and extract all contained files
• Gzip compress a single file
• Decompress a .gz file and detect original MIME type
• Create a zip archive from email attachments

Example Configuration

Compress one file into a zip archive:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "compress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "data",
    "outputFormat": "zip",
    "fileName": "archive.zip",
    "binaryPropertyOutput": "compressedArchive",
    "maxConcurrency": 5
  }
}

Compress several binary fields into one zip archive:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "compress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "file1,file2,file3",
    "outputFormat": "zip",
    "fileName": "multi-files.zip",
    "binaryPropertyOutput": "zipOutput"
  }
}

Gzip a single file under a chosen name:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "compress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "document",
    "outputFormat": "gzip",
    "fileName": "document.gz",
    "binaryPropertyOutput": "gzipData"
  }
}

Gzip a file and let the node derive the name from the original:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "compress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "data",
    "outputFormat": "gzip",
    "binaryPropertyOutput": "compressedFile"
  }
}

Extract every file from an archive:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "decompress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "archive",
    "outputPrefix": "extracted_",
    "maxConcurrency": 8
  }
}

Extract several archives held on the same item:

{
  "type": "compression",
  "parameters": {
    "operation": "decompress",
    "binaryPropertyName": "zip1,zip2,backup",
    "outputPrefix": "file_"
  }
}

Error Handling

Mode	Behavior
stop	Halts workflow on first error
continue	Skips failed items, passes successful ones through
errorPort	Routes failed items to Error output port

Tips

Compress files into zip/gzip archives or decompress zip/gzip archives into their original files — all processing done locally.

Common Patterns

• Basic file compression — name one binary field, choose zip, give the archive a file name, and pick the output field to write it to.
• Archive extraction — point Input Binary Field(s) at an uploaded or downloaded archive and give the extracted files a readable Output Prefix such as extracted_.
• Batch processing — list several binary fields in one go and raise Max Concurrency when many items arrive at once.
• Single large file — prefer gzip over zip when you are compressing one file and want the lightest possible processing.

Parameter Relationships

• Input Binary Field(s) is required for both operations, but serves different purposes — the files to pack when compressing, the archives to open when decompressing.
• Output Format and Put Output File in Field apply to Compress only.
• File Name behaves differently per format: for zip it names the archive and is required; for gzip it is optional and the original file name is used when it is empty.
• Output Prefix applies to Decompress only, and numbers the extracted files systematically.