diff --git a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/task/DownloadAssetsTask.java b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/task/DownloadAssetsTask.java
index accbccdf..e19cce09 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/task/DownloadAssetsTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/task/DownloadAssetsTask.java
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@ public abstract class DownloadAssetsTask extends AbstractLoomTask {
 						.download(url)
 						.sha1(sha1)
 						.progress(new GradleDownloadProgressListener(object.name(), progressGroup::createProgressLogger))
-						.maxRetries(3)
 						.downloadPathAsync(getAssetsPath(object, assetIndex), executor);
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/Download.java b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/Download.java
index 12742ce6..b0a2dd6e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/Download.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/Download.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 package net.fabricmc.loom.util.download;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.ProxySelector;
@@ -45,8 +46,8 @@ import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 
-import com.github.mizosoft.methanol.Methanol;
 import com.github.mizosoft.methanol.ProgressTracker;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -85,10 +86,9 @@ public class Download {
 			throw error("Unable to download %s in offline mode", this.url);
 		}
 
-		return Methanol.newBuilder()
+		return HttpClient.newBuilder()
 				.followRedirects(HttpClient.Redirect.ALWAYS)
 				.proxy(ProxySelector.getDefault())
-				.autoAcceptEncoding(true)
 				.build();
 	}
 
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ public class Download {
 	}
 
 	String downloadString() throws DownloadException {
-		final HttpResponse<String> response = send(getRequest(), HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+		final HttpResponse<InputStream> response = send(getRequest(), HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofInputStream());
 		final int statusCode = response.statusCode();
 		final boolean successful = statusCode >= 200 && statusCode < 300;
 
@@ -135,7 +135,11 @@ public class Download {
 			throw error("HTTP request to (%s) returned unsuccessful status (%d)", url, statusCode);
 		}
 
-		return response.body();
+		try (InputStream inputStream = decodeOutput(response)) {
+			return new String(inputStream.readAllBytes(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			throw error(e, "Failed to decode download output");
+		}
 	}
 
 	void downloadPath(Path output) throws DownloadException {
@@ -174,7 +178,7 @@ public class Download {
 
 		// Create a .lock file, this allows us to re-download if the download was forcefully aborted part way through.
 		createLock(output);
-		HttpResponse<Path> response = send(httpRequest, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofFile(output));
+		HttpResponse<InputStream> response = send(httpRequest, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofInputStream());
 		getAndResetLock(output);
 
 		final int statusCode = response.statusCode();
@@ -185,13 +189,15 @@ public class Download {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		if (!success) {
-			try {
-				Files.deleteIfExists(output);
-			} catch (IOException ignored) {
-				// We tried.
+		if (success) {
+			try (InputStream inputStream = decodeOutput(response)) {
+				Files.write(output, inputStream.readAllBytes());
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				tryCleanup(output);
+				throw error(e, "Failed to decode and write download output");
 			}
-
+		} else {
+			tryCleanup(output);
 			throw error("HTTP request to (%s) returned unsuccessful status (%d)", url, statusCode);
 		}
 
@@ -224,6 +230,16 @@ public class Download {
 		}
 	}
 
+	private InputStream decodeOutput(HttpResponse<InputStream> response) throws IOException {
+		final String encoding = response.headers().firstValue("Content-Encoding").orElse("");
+
+		return switch (encoding) {
+		case "gzip" -> new GZIPInputStream(response.body());
+		case "" -> response.body();
+		default -> throw error("Unsupported encoding: %s", encoding);
+		};
+	}
+
 	private boolean requiresDownload(Path output) throws DownloadException {
 		if (getAndResetLock(output)) {
 			LOGGER.warn("Forcing downloading {} as existing lock file was found. This may happen if the gradle build was forcefully canceled.", output);
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/DownloadBuilder.java b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/DownloadBuilder.java
index 5a10f413..95d46623 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/DownloadBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/fabricmc/loom/util/download/DownloadBuilder.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class DownloadBuilder {
 	private boolean offline = false;
 	private Duration maxAge = Duration.ZERO;
 	private DownloadProgressListener progressListener = DownloadProgressListener.NONE;
-	private int maxRetries = 1;
+	private int maxRetries = 3;
 
 	private DownloadBuilder(URI url) {
 		this.url = url;
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/net/fabricmc/loom/test/unit/download/DownloadFileTest.groovy b/src/test/groovy/net/fabricmc/loom/test/unit/download/DownloadFileTest.groovy
index 451c3edc..8815a146 100644
--- a/src/test/groovy/net/fabricmc/loom/test/unit/download/DownloadFileTest.groovy
+++ b/src/test/groovy/net/fabricmc/loom/test/unit/download/DownloadFileTest.groovy
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 package net.fabricmc.loom.test.unit.download
 
 import io.javalin.http.HttpCode
+import net.fabricmc.loom.util.Checksum
 import net.fabricmc.loom.util.download.Download
 import net.fabricmc.loom.util.download.DownloadException
 import net.fabricmc.loom.util.download.DownloadExecutor
@@ -302,4 +303,35 @@ class DownloadFileTest extends DownloadTest {
 		then:
 			thrown DownloadException
 	}
+
+	def "File: Large"() {
+		setup:
+			byte[] data = new byte[1024 * 1024 * 10] // 10MB
+			new Random().nextBytes(data)
+
+			server.get("/largeFile") {
+				it.result(data)
+			}
+
+			def output = new File(File.createTempDir(), "file").toPath()
+
+		when:
+			def result = Download.create("$PATH/largeFile").downloadPath(output)
+
+		then:
+			Files.readAllBytes(output) == data
+	}
+
+	// Known
+	def "Download Mojang Mappings"() {
+		setup:
+			def file = File.createTempDir().toPath().resolve("client.txt")
+		when:
+			Download.create("https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/8e8c9be5dc27802caba47053d4fdea328f7f89bd/client.txt")
+					.sha1("8e8c9be5dc27802caba47053d4fdea328f7f89bd")
+					.downloadPath(file)
+
+		then:
+			Checksum.sha1Hex(file) == "8e8c9be5dc27802caba47053d4fdea328f7f89bd"
+	}
 }