diff --git a/crates/desktop/artcraft/src/core/threads/third_party_task_polling_thread/handlers/fal/handle_fal_complete.rs b/crates/desktop/artcraft/src/core/threads/third_party_task_polling_thread/handlers/fal/handle_fal_complete.rs
--- a/crates/desktop/artcraft/src/core/threads/third_party_task_polling_thread/handlers/fal/handle_fal_complete.rs
+++ b/crates/desktop/artcraft/src/core/threads/third_party_task_polling_thread/handlers/fal/handle_fal_complete.rs
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ async fn download_file(
   app_data_root: &AppDataRoot,
   index: usize,
 ) -> Result<PathBuf, Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
-  let response = reqwest::get(url).await?;
+  let response = reqwest::get(url).await?.error_for_status()?;
   let bytes = response.bytes().await?;
 
   let extension = url_utils::download_extension::extract_download_extension_from_url::extract_download_extension_from_url_str(url)
@@ -347,3 +347,31 @@ async fn try_upload(
 
   Ok(media_token)
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+  use super::*;
+  use tokio::io::{AsyncReadExt, AsyncWriteExt};
+  use tokio::net::TcpListener;
+
+  /// A result URL that answers with an error (expired, or a CDN hiccup) is a failed download, not a
+  /// file: the error page used to be saved and then uploaded as the task's image or video.
+  #[tokio::test]
+  async fn error_responses_are_not_saved_as_results() {
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let root = AppDataRoot::create_existing(dir.path()).unwrap();
+    let listener = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+    let url = format!("http://{}/result.png", listener.local_addr().unwrap());
+    let server = tokio::spawn(async move {
+      let (mut socket, _) = listener.accept().await.unwrap();
+      let mut request = [0; 4096];
+      socket.read(&mut request).await.unwrap();
+      let body = "<html>Not Found</html>";
+      let response = format!("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\nContent-Length: {}\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n{body}", body.len());
+      socket.write_all(response.as_bytes()).await.unwrap();
+    });
+    assert!(download_file(&url, &root, 0).await.is_err());
+    server.await.unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(std::fs::read_dir(root.temp_dir().path()).unwrap().count(), 0, "no file is left to upload");
+  }
+}