Cannot create a string longer than 0x1fffffe8 characters

[MV_Karthik]

I’m trying to read 900 mb file

Cannot create a string longer than 0x1fffffe8 characters

Information on your n8n setup

• latest version
  -running n8n via docker
• windows

[jabbson]

Based on this topic, you should try to set the binary mode to filesystem . That will fix that issue. More information here: Scaling binary data in n8n | n8n Docs.

[MV_Karthik]

Can you please guide me step by step, How to change binary mode to filesystem

[priyankagusani]

If you’re just trying to pass the file to another node (like uploading, encoding, etc.), you should follow below steps:

1. Use the “Read/Write Files from Disk” node

2. Under “Options”, enable:
   Binary Property: e.g., set to data
   Read As Binary Data: Enable this

3. Then downstream, use the binary property (data) to upload, store, or manipulate the file.

[jabbson]

If you are running your n8n via docker, you should be able to set the environment variables by passing them to docker run command, something like this:

docker run -it --rm \
--name n8n \
-p 5678:5678 \
-v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

then you can add the env var like so:

docker run -it --rm \
  --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE=filesystem \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

otherwise if you are running in docker compose, then you should add N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE=filesystem to the list of environment variables, which would change your docker-compose service from something like this:

  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
      - ./local-files:/files

to something like this:

  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE=filesystem
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
      - ./local-files:/files

The same issue was mentioned here, here and a few other topics.

[MV_Karthik]

which option i need to select

[cutecatcode]

- N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE=filesystem
Just add this thing to your environment section in n8n docker compose file