diff --git a/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/client.py b/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/client.py
index 697e3e760..4e4240e91 100644
--- a/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/client.py
+++ b/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/client.py
@@ -172,6 +172,31 @@ class GoogleDriveClient:
         except Exception as e:
             return None, f"Error downloading file: {e!s}"
 
+    async def download_file_to_disk(
+        self, file_id: str, dest_path: str, chunksize: int = 5 * 1024 * 1024,
+    ) -> str | None:
+        """Stream file directly to disk in chunks, avoiding full in-memory buffering.
+
+        Returns error message on failure, None on success.
+        """
+        try:
+            service = await self.get_service()
+            request = service.files().get_media(fileId=file_id)
+            from googleapiclient.http import MediaIoBaseDownload
+
+            with open(dest_path, "wb") as fh:
+                downloader = MediaIoBaseDownload(fh, request, chunksize=chunksize)
+                done = False
+                while not done:
+                    _, done = downloader.next_chunk()
+
+            return None
+
+        except HttpError as e:
+            return f"HTTP error downloading file: {e.resp.status}"
+        except Exception as e:
+            return f"Error downloading file: {e!s}"
+
     async def export_google_file(
         self, file_id: str, mime_type: str
     ) -> tuple[bytes | None, str | None]:
diff --git a/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/content_extractor.py b/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/content_extractor.py
index 6fa20bf8e..69f64d9ae 100644
--- a/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/content_extractor.py
+++ b/surfsense_backend/app/connectors/google_drive/content_extractor.py
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@ async def download_and_extract_content(
 
     temp_file_path = None
     try:
-        # Download / export
         if is_google_workspace_file(mime_type):
+            # Workspace files (Docs/Sheets/Slides) use export -- returns bytes
+            # in one shot. These are typically small (a few MB as PDF/text).
             export_mime = get_export_mime_type(mime_type)
             if not export_mime:
                 return None, drive_metadata, f"Cannot export Google Workspace type: {mime_type}"
@@ -69,17 +70,21 @@ async def download_and_extract_content(
             if error:
                 return None, drive_metadata, error
             extension = ".pdf" if export_mime == "application/pdf" else ".txt"
+
+            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, suffix=extension) as tmp:
+                tmp.write(content_bytes)
+                temp_file_path = tmp.name
         else:
-            content_bytes, error = await client.download_file(file_id)
+            # Binary files -- stream directly to disk in chunks to avoid
+            # loading the entire file into memory.
+            extension = Path(file_name).suffix or ".bin"
+            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, suffix=extension) as tmp:
+                temp_file_path = tmp.name
+
+            error = await client.download_file_to_disk(file_id, temp_file_path)
             if error:
                 return None, drive_metadata, error
-            extension = Path(file_name).suffix or ".bin"
 
-        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, suffix=extension) as tmp:
-            tmp.write(content_bytes)
-            temp_file_path = tmp.name
-
-        # Parse to markdown
         markdown = await _parse_file_to_markdown(temp_file_path, file_name)
         return markdown, drive_metadata, None