diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 98ffb61..5fdd5ad 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -492,6 +492,16 @@ result = await async_client.files.download(
 )
 ```
 
+For large async downloads, use `stream_download()` to process bytes as they arrive without buffering the full response in memory:
+
+```python
+async with async_client.files.stream_download(
+    url=await async_client.my_files_home() / "relative_folder/my-file.txt"
+) as result:
+    async for bytes_chunk in result:
+        ...
+```
+
 As a result, you will receive an object of type `FileDownloadResponse`, that you can iterate by byte chunks:
 
 ```python
diff --git a/aidial_client/_http_client/_async.py b/aidial_client/_http_client/_async.py
index 5dcf37c..f82c82f 100644
--- a/aidial_client/_http_client/_async.py
+++ b/aidial_client/_http_client/_async.py
@@ -120,6 +120,42 @@ async def request(
 
         return process_block_response(cast_to=cast_to, response=response)
 
+    @asynccontextmanager
+    async def stream(
+        self,
+        *,
+        options: FinalRequestOptions,
+        on_http_error: Optional[
+            Callable[[httpx.HTTPStatusError], Optional[DialException]]
+        ] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncIterator[httpx.Response]:
+        auth_headers = await self.auth_headers()
+        request = self._build_request(options, auth_headers)
+        try:
+            response = await self._internal_http_client.send(
+                request, stream=True
+            )
+        except httpx.TimeoutException as err:
+            raise DialException(
+                message="Request timed out",
+                status_code=HTTPStatus.REQUEST_TIMEOUT,
+            ) from err
+        except httpx.HTTPError as err:
+            raise DialException(message=f"Request failed: {err}") from err
+
+        try:
+            try:
+                response.raise_for_status()
+            except httpx.HTTPStatusError as err:
+                custom_error = on_http_error(err) if on_http_error else None
+                raised_error = custom_error or self._make_dial_error_from_response(
+                    err.response
+                )
+                raise raised_error from err
+            yield response
+        finally:
+            await response.aclose()
+
     @asynccontextmanager
     async def stream_sse(
         self,
diff --git a/aidial_client/resources/files.py b/aidial_client/resources/files.py
index 47421aa..befc5ba 100644
--- a/aidial_client/resources/files.py
+++ b/aidial_client/resources/files.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from pathlib import PurePosixPath
-from typing import Literal, Optional, Union
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
+from typing import AsyncIterator, Literal, Optional, Union
 from urllib.parse import urljoin
 
 import httpx
@@ -209,6 +210,31 @@ async def download(
             response=response, filename=storage_resource.filename
         )
 
+    @asynccontextmanager
+    async def stream_download(
+        self,
+        url: Union[str, PurePosixPath],
+        etag_if_match: Optional[str] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncIterator[FileDownloadResponse]:
+        storage_resource = self.get_storage_resource(str(url))
+        if storage_resource.filename is None:
+            raise InvalidDialURLError("URL points to a directory, not a file")
+        async with self.http_client.stream(
+            options=FinalRequestOptions(
+                method="GET",
+                url=urljoin(API_PREFIX, storage_resource.api_path),
+                headers=remove_none(
+                    {
+                        "If-Match": etag_if_match,
+                    }
+                ),
+            ),
+            on_http_error=_files_error_processor,
+        ) as response:
+            yield FileDownloadResponse(
+                response=response, filename=storage_resource.filename
+            )
+
     async def delete(
         self,
         url: Union[str, PurePosixPath],
diff --git a/tests/resources/files/test_download.py b/tests/resources/files/test_download.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34d1e8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/resources/files/test_download.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, cast
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+
+from aidial_client._client import AsyncDial
+from aidial_client._exception import InvalidDialURLError
+from tests.client_mock import MockStreamIterator
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_stream_download_async_streams_and_closes_response():
+    captured_requests: List[httpx.Request] = []
+    captured_kwargs: List[Dict[str, Any]] = []
+    captured_responses: List[httpx.Response] = []
+    client = AsyncDial(api_key="dummy", base_url="http://dial.core")
+    client._get_my_bucket = cast(Any, AsyncMock(return_value="test-bucket"))
+
+    async def send_mock(
+        request: httpx.Request, *, stream: bool = False, **kwargs: Any
+    ) -> httpx.Response:
+        captured_requests.append(request)
+        captured_kwargs.append({"stream": stream, **kwargs})
+        response = httpx.Response(
+            status_code=200,
+            request=request,
+            stream=MockStreamIterator(mock_chunks=[b"hello ", b"world"]),
+        )
+        captured_responses.append(response)
+        return response
+
+    client._http_client._internal_http_client.send = cast(Any, send_mock)
+
+    async with client.files.stream_download(
+        url=await client.my_files_home() / "folder/file.txt"
+    ) as response:
+        assert response.filename == "file.txt"
+        assert b"".join([chunk async for chunk in response]) == b"hello world"
+
+    assert captured_requests[0].url.path == "/v1/files/test-bucket/folder/file.txt"
+    assert captured_kwargs == [{"stream": True}]
+    assert captured_responses[0].is_closed is True
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_stream_download_async_rejects_directory_url():
+    client = AsyncDial(api_key="dummy", base_url="http://dial.core")
+    client._get_my_bucket = cast(Any, AsyncMock(return_value="test-bucket"))
+    send_mock = AsyncMock()
+    client._http_client._internal_http_client.send = cast(Any, send_mock)
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        InvalidDialURLError, match="URL points to a directory, not a file"
+    ):
+        async with client.files.stream_download(
+            url="files/test-bucket/folder/"
+        ):
+            pass
+
+    send_mock.assert_not_called()