diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/api-fix-files.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/api-fix-files.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8a9e29109a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/api-fix-files.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: 'API: Fix file downloading'
+merge_request: Robert Schilling
+author: 8267
diff --git a/lib/api/helpers.rb b/lib/api/helpers.rb
index eb5b947172a..dfab60f7fa5 100644
--- a/lib/api/helpers.rb
+++ b/lib/api/helpers.rb
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ module API
         header['X-Sendfile'] = path
         body
       else
-        path
+        file path
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/builds_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/builds_spec.rb
index f197fadebab..834c4e52693 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/builds_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/builds_spec.rb
@@ -188,6 +188,7 @@ describe API::Builds, api: true do
         it 'returns specific job artifacts' do
           expect(response).to have_http_status(200)
           expect(response.headers).to include(download_headers)
+          expect(response.body).to match_file(build.artifacts_file.file.file)
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/support/matchers/match_file.rb b/spec/support/matchers/match_file.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d1888b3376a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/support/matchers/match_file.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+RSpec::Matchers.define :match_file do |expected|
+  match do |actual|
+    expect(Digest::MD5.hexdigest(actual)).to eq(Digest::MD5.hexdigest(File.read(expected)))
+  end
+end