diff --git a/office365/onedrive/driveitems/driveItem.py b/office365/onedrive/driveitems/driveItem.py
index 0c31c628b..2c81a9f73 100644
--- a/office365/onedrive/driveitems/driveItem.py
+++ b/office365/onedrive/driveitems/driveItem.py
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ def get_content(self, format_name: str | None = None) -> ClientResult[AnyStr]:
         action_name = "content"
         if format_name is not None:
             action_name = action_name + rf"?format={format_name}"
-        qry = FunctionQuery(self, action_name, None, return_type)
+        qry = FunctionQuery(self, action_name, None, return_type, return_raw_content=True)
         self.context.add_query(qry)
         return return_type
 
diff --git a/office365/runtime/odata/request.py b/office365/runtime/odata/request.py
index 6f3e4980e..d5bc43fbc 100644
--- a/office365/runtime/odata/request.py
+++ b/office365/runtime/odata/request.py
@@ -77,7 +77,9 @@ def process_response(self, response: Response, query: ClientQuery) -> None:
         if isinstance(return_type, ClientObject):
             return_type.clear_state()
 
-        if response.headers.get("Content-Type", "").lower().split(";")[0] != "application/json":
+        content_type = response.headers.get("Content-Type", "").lower().split(";")[0]
+
+        if content_type != "application/json" or self._is_raw_content_query(query):
             if isinstance(return_type, ClientResult):
                 return_type.set_property("__value", response.content)
         else:
@@ -87,6 +89,11 @@ def process_response(self, response: Response, query: ClientQuery) -> None:
 
             self.map_json(response.json(), return_type, json_format)
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _is_raw_content_query(query: ClientQuery) -> bool:
+        """Check if the query represents a raw content retrieval (e.g. file download)."""
+        return isinstance(query, FunctionQuery) and query.return_raw_content
+
     def map_json(
         self,
         json: Any,
diff --git a/office365/runtime/queries/function.py b/office365/runtime/queries/function.py
index 4c1911b3d..726ef9a8f 100644
--- a/office365/runtime/queries/function.py
+++ b/office365/runtime/queries/function.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ def __init__(
         method_name: str | None = None,
         method_params: list | dict | ClientValue | None = None,
         return_type: ReturnT | None = None,
+        return_raw_content: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         """Initialize a function query.
 
@@ -23,9 +24,17 @@ def __init__(
             method_name: The name of the method to call
             method_params: Parameters for the method call
             return_type: The expected return type
+            return_raw_content: When True, the response body is treated as raw content
+                (e.g. file download) rather than parsed as OData JSON.
         """
         super().__init__(binding_type.context, binding_type, None, None, return_type)
         self._path = ServiceOperationPath(method_name or "", method_params, binding_type.resource_path)
+        self._return_raw_content = return_raw_content
+
+    @property
+    def return_raw_content(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether the response should be treated as raw content, not OData JSON."""
+        return self._return_raw_content
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"FunctionQuery(name={self.path.name})"
diff --git a/office365/sharepoint/files/file.py b/office365/sharepoint/files/file.py
index 6ba5c0f4a..219d310de 100644
--- a/office365/sharepoint/files/file.py
+++ b/office365/sharepoint/files/file.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def _file_loaded():
     def get_content(self) -> ClientResult[bytes]:
         """Downloads a file content"""
         return_type = ClientResult(self.context, bytes())
-        qry = FunctionQuery(self, "$value", return_type=return_type)
+        qry = FunctionQuery(self, "$value", return_type=return_type, return_raw_content=True)
         self.context.add_query(qry)
         return return_type