Automate file conversion in your n8n workflows
Our n8n community node is live. Convert documents, images, audio and video inside any n8n automation, EU-hosted, with one API key. Here is how it works.
·4 min read·integrations · n8n · automation
File conversion, now inside n8n
We just shipped a community node for n8n, the open-source workflow automation tool. It puts bulkconvert directly into your flows, so a file that lands in one step can leave the next step in a different format.
No conversion binaries to ship on your own host. No microservice to babysit. One node, one API key.
See the integration page for the full reference, or read on for the short version.
Why we built it
Almost every automation eventually touches a file. A form intake drops a PDF that the rest of the flow needs as a Word doc. A scraper saves images you want stored as WebP. A podcast feed hands you an MP4 when all you need is the MP3.
The usual fix is to install LibreOffice, ffmpeg, or ImageMagick on whatever runs your workflow. That works until you are on a hosted n8n, or you would rather not carry hundreds of megabytes of dependencies and their security patches for a feature a handful of flows use. A single node that calls a conversion API is the lighter answer.
What the node does
There are two operations:
- Convert a File takes a public file URL and a target format, and returns the converted file as binary data. The next node can save it, upload it, or attach it to an email. Pass multiple items and it converts each one, so batch conversion is just a loop.
- Get Usage returns your tier, how many conversions you have used, and when the quota resets. Handy when you want a flow to check its budget before running.
It covers 30+ format pairs across documents, images, audio, video and archives. PDF, DOCX, HTML, Markdown, CSV, XLSX, PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG, MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, ZIP, and more.
Setting it up
Three steps:
- In a self-hosted n8n, open Settings, then Community Nodes, then Install, and enter n8n-nodes-bulkconvert.
- Sign in to bulkconvert and copy your API key from the dashboard. It starts with bc_live_.
- Create a BulkConvert API credential in n8n and paste the key. The same key works for the web app and the API.
That is it. Search for the BulkConvert node in your node panel and drop it into a flow.
A flow you might build
- A webhook receives a file URL from an upstream tool.
- The BulkConvert node converts it to PDF.
- A Google Drive node saves the PDF to a shared folder, and a Slack node posts the link.
Swap any of those steps. The point is that conversion stops being the part you have to host yourself.
EU-hosted by default
Files are processed in the EU. We do not read file contents, and converted output is held only long enough for you to fetch it. The same privacy posture that applies to the web app and the API applies when the call comes from n8n. If data residency matters to your automations, that is the reason this node exists rather than a bundled binary on a host you do not control.
Try it
Grab a free API key (3 conversions a day, no card), install the node, and convert your first file. If you want bulkconvert in another tool, tell us which one.
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