diff --git a/mediaapi/routing/download.go b/mediaapi/routing/download.go
index d4f97f896..95eab5124 100644
--- a/mediaapi/routing/download.go
+++ b/mediaapi/routing/download.go
@@ -723,11 +723,11 @@ func (r *downloadRequest) fetchRemoteFile(
 	// create request for remote file
 	resp, err := client.CreateMediaDownloadRequest(ctx, r.MediaMetadata.Origin, string(r.MediaMetadata.MediaID))
 	if err != nil || resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		if resp.StatusCode == http.StatusNotFound {
+			return "", false, fmt.Errorf("File with media ID %q does not exist on %s", r.MediaMetadata.MediaID, r.MediaMetadata.Origin)
+		}
 		return "", false, fmt.Errorf("file with media ID %q could not be downloaded from %s", r.MediaMetadata.MediaID, r.MediaMetadata.Origin)
 	}
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", false, err
-	}
 	defer resp.Body.Close() // nolint: errcheck
 
 	// The reader returned here will be limited either by the Content-Length