diff --git a/appview/pages/markup/camo.go b/appview/pages/markup/camo.go
index 9995f728..65d108ee 100644
--- a/appview/pages/markup/camo.go
+++ b/appview/pages/markup/camo.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/yuin/goldmark/ast"
 )
 
-func generateCamoURL(baseURL, secret, imageURL string) string {
+func GenerateCamoURL(baseURL, secret, imageURL string) string {
 	h := hmac.New(sha256.New, []byte(secret))
 	h.Write([]byte(imageURL))
 	signature := hex.EncodeToString(h.Sum(nil))
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ func (rctx *RenderContext) camoImageLinkTransformer(dst string) string {
 	}
 
 	if rctx.CamoUrl != "" && rctx.CamoSecret != "" {
-		return generateCamoURL(rctx.CamoUrl, rctx.CamoSecret, dst)
+		return GenerateCamoURL(rctx.CamoUrl, rctx.CamoSecret, dst)
 	}
 
 	return dst
diff --git a/appview/pages/pages.go b/appview/pages/pages.go
index 6f8d7f2c..f42cfd88 100644
--- a/appview/pages/pages.go
+++ b/appview/pages/pages.go
@@ -624,6 +624,10 @@ type RepoBlobParams struct {
 	LoggedInUser     *oauth.User
 	RepoInfo         repoinfo.RepoInfo
 	Active           string
+	Unsupported      bool
+	IsImage          bool
+	IsVideo          bool
+	ContentSrc       string
 	BreadCrumbs      [][]string
 	ShowRendered     bool
 	RenderToggle     bool
diff --git a/appview/pages/templates/repo/blob.html b/appview/pages/templates/repo/blob.html
index ff4fce50..89280c3d 100644
--- a/appview/pages/templates/repo/blob.html
+++ b/appview/pages/templates/repo/blob.html
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@
 
     {{ $title := printf "%s at %s · %s" .Path .Ref .RepoInfo.FullName }}
     {{ $url := printf "https://tangled.sh/%s/blob/%s/%s" .RepoInfo.FullName .Ref .Path }}
-    
+
     {{ template "repo/fragments/og" (dict "RepoInfo" .RepoInfo "Title" $title "Url" $url) }}
-   
+
 {{ end }}
 
 {{ define "repoContent" }}
@@ -44,18 +44,31 @@
                 <a href="/{{ .RepoInfo.FullName }}/raw/{{ .Ref }}/{{ .Path }}">view raw</a>
                 {{ if .RenderToggle }}
                 <span class="select-none px-1 md:px-2 [&:before]:content-['·']"></span>
-                <a 
-                href="/{{ .RepoInfo.FullName }}/blob/{{ .Ref }}/{{ .Path }}?code={{ .ShowRendered }}" 
+                <a
+                href="/{{ .RepoInfo.FullName }}/blob/{{ .Ref }}/{{ .Path }}?code={{ .ShowRendered }}"
                 hx-boost="true"
                 >view {{ if .ShowRendered }}code{{ else }}rendered{{ end }}</a>
                 {{ end }}
             </div>
         </div>
     </div>
-    {{ if .IsBinary }}
+    {{ if and .IsBinary .Unsupported }}
         <p class="text-center text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500">
-            This is a binary file and will not be displayed.
+            Previews are not supported for this file type.
         </p>
+    {{ else if .IsBinary }}
+        <div class="text-center">
+            {{ if .IsImage }}
+                <img src="{{ .ContentSrc }}"
+                     alt="{{ .Path }}"
+                     class="max-w-full h-auto mx-auto border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded" />
+            {{ else if .IsVideo }}
+                <video controls class="max-w-full h-auto mx-auto border border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700 rounded">
+                    <source src="{{ .ContentSrc }}">
+                    Your browser does not support the video tag.
+                </video>
+            {{ end }}
+        </div>
     {{ else }}
     <div class="overflow-auto relative">
         {{ if .ShowRendered }}
diff --git a/appview/repo/repo.go b/appview/repo/repo.go
index 3cf93b81..b8810fd2 100644
--- a/appview/repo/repo.go
+++ b/appview/repo/repo.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -532,6 +533,31 @@ func (rp *Repo) RepoBlob(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		showRendered = r.URL.Query().Get("code") != "true"
 	}
 
+	var unsupported bool
+	var isImage bool
+	var isVideo bool
+	var contentSrc string
+
+	if result.IsBinary {
+		ext := strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(result.Path))
+		switch ext {
+		case ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".png", ".gif", ".svg", ".webp":
+			isImage = true
+		case ".mp4", ".webm", ".ogg", ".mov", ".avi":
+			isVideo = true
+		default:
+			unsupported = true
+		}
+
+		// fetch the actual binary content like in RepoBlobRaw
+
+		blobURL := fmt.Sprintf("%s://%s/%s/%s/raw/%s/%s", protocol, f.Knot, f.OwnerDid(), f.RepoName, ref, filePath)
+		contentSrc = blobURL
+		if !rp.config.Core.Dev {
+			contentSrc = markup.GenerateCamoURL(rp.config.Camo.Host, rp.config.Camo.SharedSecret, blobURL)
+		}
+	}
+
 	user := rp.oauth.GetUser(r)
 	rp.pages.RepoBlob(w, pages.RepoBlobParams{
 		LoggedInUser:     user,
@@ -540,6 +566,10 @@ func (rp *Repo) RepoBlob(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		BreadCrumbs:      breadcrumbs,
 		ShowRendered:     showRendered,
 		RenderToggle:     renderToggle,
+		Unsupported:      unsupported,
+		IsImage:          isImage,
+		IsVideo:          isVideo,
+		ContentSrc:       contentSrc,
 	})
 }
 
@@ -547,6 +577,7 @@ func (rp *Repo) RepoBlobRaw(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	f, err := rp.repoResolver.Resolve(r)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Println("failed to get repo and knot", err)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -557,33 +588,41 @@ func (rp *Repo) RepoBlobRaw(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	if !rp.config.Core.Dev {
 		protocol = "https"
 	}
-	resp, err := http.Get(fmt.Sprintf("%s://%s/%s/%s/blob/%s/%s", protocol, f.Knot, f.OwnerDid(), f.RepoName, ref, filePath))
+	blobURL := fmt.Sprintf("%s://%s/%s/%s/raw/%s/%s", protocol, f.Knot, f.OwnerDid(), f.RepoName, ref, filePath)
+	resp, err := http.Get(blobURL)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Println("failed to reach knotserver", err)
+		log.Println("failed to reach knotserver:", err)
+		rp.pages.Error503(w)
 		return
 	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
-	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Printf("Error reading response body: %v", err)
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		log.Printf("knotserver returned non-OK status for raw blob %s: %d", blobURL, resp.StatusCode)
+		w.WriteHeader(resp.StatusCode)
+		_, _ = io.Copy(w, resp.Body)
 		return
 	}
 
-	var result types.RepoBlobResponse
-	err = json.Unmarshal(body, &result)
+	contentType := resp.Header.Get("Content-Type")
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Println("failed to parse response:", err)
+		log.Printf("error reading response body from knotserver: %v", err)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		return
 	}
 
-	if result.IsBinary {
-		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")
+	if strings.Contains(contentType, "text/plain") {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")
 		w.Write(body)
+	} else if strings.HasPrefix(contentType, "image/") || strings.HasPrefix(contentType, "video/") {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", contentType)
+		w.Write(body)
+	} else {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType)
+		w.Write([]byte("unsupported content type"))
 		return
 	}
-
-	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")
-	w.Write([]byte(result.Contents))
 }
 
 // modify the spindle configured for this repo