diff --git a/index.d.ts b/index.d.ts
index 6dbcc80..74e169f 100644
--- a/index.d.ts
+++ b/index.d.ts
@@ -11,11 +11,14 @@ declare namespace extract {
         defaultFileMode?: number;
         onEntry?: (entry: Entry, zipfile: ZipFile) => void;
     }
+
+    type ExtractBuffer = (buffer: Buffer, opts: extract.Options) => Promise<void>;
+    type ExtractFile = (zipPath: string, opts: extract.Options) => Promise<void>;
 }
 
-declare function extract(
-  zipPath: string,
-  opts: extract.Options,
-): Promise<void>;
+declare const extract: extract.ExtractFile & {
+    extractBuffer: extract.ExtractBuffer,
+    extractFile: extract.ExtractFile
+};
 
 export = extract;
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 23384ea..6fdf026 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -7,19 +7,33 @@ const { promisify } = require('util')
 const stream = require('stream')
 const yauzl = require('yauzl')
 
+const fromBuffer = promisify(yauzl.fromBuffer)
 const openZip = promisify(yauzl.open)
 const pipeline = promisify(stream.pipeline)
 
+const yauzlOpts = { lazyEntries: true }
+
 class Extractor {
-  constructor (zipPath, opts) {
-    this.zipPath = zipPath
+  constructor (opts) {
     this.opts = opts
   }
 
-  async extract () {
-    debug('opening', this.zipPath, 'with opts', this.opts)
+  async extractFile (zipPath) {
+    debug('extracting file', zipPath, 'with opts', this.opts)
+    const zipfile = await openZip(zipPath, yauzlOpts)
+    return this.extract(zipfile)
+  }
+
+  async extractBuffer (buffer) {
+    debug('extracting buffer with opts', this.opts)
+    const zipfile = await fromBuffer(buffer, yauzlOpts)
+    return this.extract(zipfile)
+  }
 
-    this.zipfile = await openZip(this.zipPath, { lazyEntries: true })
+  async extract (zipfile) {
+    await this.ensureDir()
+
+    this.zipfile = zipfile
     this.canceled = false
 
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
@@ -29,11 +43,9 @@ class Extractor {
       })
       this.zipfile.readEntry()
 
-      this.zipfile.on('close', () => {
-        if (!this.canceled) {
-          debug('zip extraction complete')
-          resolve()
-        }
+      this.zipfile.on('end', () => {
+        debug('zip extraction complete')
+        resolve()
       })
 
       this.zipfile.on('entry', async entry => {
@@ -158,16 +170,27 @@ class Extractor {
 
     return mode
   }
-}
 
-module.exports = async function (zipPath, opts) {
-  debug('creating target directory', opts.dir)
+  async ensureDir () {
+    debug('creating target directory', this.opts.dir)
 
-  if (!path.isAbsolute(opts.dir)) {
-    throw new Error('Target directory is expected to be absolute')
+    if (!path.isAbsolute(this.opts.dir)) {
+      throw new Error('Target directory is expected to be absolute')
+    }
+
+    await fs.mkdir(this.opts.dir, { recursive: true })
+    this.opts.dir = await fs.realpath(this.opts.dir)
   }
+}
 
-  await fs.mkdir(opts.dir, { recursive: true })
-  opts.dir = await fs.realpath(opts.dir)
-  return new Extractor(zipPath, opts).extract()
+async function extractFile (filename, opts) {
+  return new Extractor(opts).extractFile(filename)
 }
+
+async function extractBuffer (buffer, opts) {
+  return new Extractor(opts).extractBuffer(buffer)
+}
+
+module.exports = extractFile
+module.exports.extractBuffer = extractBuffer
+module.exports.extractFile = extractFile
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 4ee7108..a793113 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ const extract = require('extract-zip')
 
 async function main () {
   try {
-    await extract(source, { dir: target })
+    await extract(filename, { dir: target })
     console.log('Extraction complete')
   } catch (err) {
     // handle any errors
@@ -39,6 +39,23 @@ async function main () {
 }
 ```
 
+The `extractBuffer` helper function can be used if the zipped data is
+not stored in a file. It has the same `source` and `options` parameters:
+
+```javascript
+const extract = require('extract-zip')
+
+async function main () {
+  try {
+    await extract.extractBuffer(buffer, { dir: target })
+    console.log('Extraction complete')
+  } catch (err) {
+    // handle any errors
+  }
+}
+```
+
+
 ### Options
 
 - `dir` (required) - the path to the directory where the extracted files are written
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index a955a21..e78c245 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ async function tempExtract (t, suffix, zipPath) {
   return dirPath
 }
 
+async function tempExtractBuf (t, suffix, buffer) {
+  const dirPath = await mkdtemp(t, suffix)
+  await extract.extractBuffer(buffer, { dir: dirPath })
+  return dirPath
+}
+
 async function pathExists (t, pathToCheck, message) {
   const exists = await fs.pathExists(pathToCheck)
   t.true(exists, message)
@@ -45,6 +51,12 @@ test('files', async t => {
   await pathExists(t, path.join(dirPath, 'cats', 'gJqEYBs.jpg'), 'file created')
 })
 
+test('buffer', async t => {
+  const catsBuf = await fs.readFile(catsZip)
+  const dirPath = await tempExtractBuf(t, 'files', catsBuf)
+  await pathExists(t, path.join(dirPath, 'cats', 'gJqEYBs.jpg'), 'file created')
+})
+
 test('symlinks', async t => {
   const dirPath = await tempExtract(t, 'symlinks', catsZip)
   const symlink = path.join(dirPath, 'cats', 'orange_symlink')