diff --git a/internal/plugin/installer/http_installer_test.go b/internal/plugin/installer/http_installer_test.go
index be40b1b90..16ff0e305 100644
--- a/internal/plugin/installer/http_installer_test.go
+++ b/internal/plugin/installer/http_installer_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"syscall"
 	"testing"
@@ -66,22 +67,37 @@ func TestStripName(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func mockArchiveServer() *httptest.Server {
+func mockArchiveServer(extensionToContentType map[string]string) *httptest.Server {
+	// Extract and sort keys by length in descending order
+	extensions := make([]string, 0, len(extensionToContentType))
+	for ext := range extensionToContentType {
+		extensions = append(extensions, ext)
+	}
+	sort.Slice(extensions, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return len(extensions[i]) > len(extensions[j])
+	})
+
 	return httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		if !strings.HasSuffix(r.URL.Path, ".tar.gz") {
-			w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "text/html")
-			fmt.Fprintln(w, "broken")
-			return
+		for _, ext := range extensions {
+			contentType := extensionToContentType[ext]
+			if strings.HasSuffix(r.URL.Path, ext) {
+				w.Header().Add("Content-Type", contentType)
+				fmt.Fprintln(w, "test")
+				return
+			}
 		}
-		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "application/gzip")
-		fmt.Fprintln(w, "test")
+
+		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "text/html")
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, "broken")
 	}))
 }
 
 func TestHTTPInstaller(t *testing.T) {
 	ensure.HelmHome(t)
 
-	srv := mockArchiveServer()
+	srv := mockArchiveServer(map[string]string{
+		".tar.gz": "application/gzip",
+	})
 	defer srv.Close()
 	source := srv.URL + "/plugins/fake-plugin-0.0.1.tar.gz"
 
@@ -129,7 +145,9 @@ func TestHTTPInstaller(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestHTTPInstallerNonExistentVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	ensure.HelmHome(t)
-	srv := mockArchiveServer()
+	srv := mockArchiveServer(map[string]string{
+		".tar.gz": "application/gzip",
+	})
 	defer srv.Close()
 	source := srv.URL + "/plugins/fake-plugin-0.0.1.tar.gz"
 
@@ -161,7 +179,9 @@ func TestHTTPInstallerNonExistentVersion(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestHTTPInstallerUpdate(t *testing.T) {
-	srv := mockArchiveServer()
+	srv := mockArchiveServer(map[string]string{
+		".tar.gz": "application/gzip",
+	})
 	defer srv.Close()
 	source := srv.URL + "/plugins/fake-plugin-0.0.1.tar.gz"
 	ensure.HelmHome(t)
diff --git a/internal/plugin/installer/installer.go b/internal/plugin/installer/installer.go
index a6599c443..c4aeebc35 100644
--- a/internal/plugin/installer/installer.go
+++ b/internal/plugin/installer/installer.go
@@ -174,41 +174,51 @@ func isLocalReference(source string) bool {
 // It works by checking whether the source looks like a URL and, if it does, running a
 // HEAD operation to see if the remote resource is a file that we understand.
 func isRemoteHTTPArchive(source string) bool {
-	if strings.HasPrefix(source, "http://") || strings.HasPrefix(source, "https://") {
-		// First, check if the URL ends with a known archive suffix
-		// This is more reliable than content-type detection
+	if !isHTTPURL(source) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	contentType, err := getRemoteContentType(source)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Handle octet-stream specially by checking file extension
+	if contentType == "application/octet-stream" {
 		for suffix := range Extractors {
 			if strings.HasSuffix(source, suffix) {
 				return true
 			}
 		}
 
-		// If no suffix match, try HEAD request to check content type
-		res, err := http.Head(source)
-		if err != nil {
-			// If we get an error at the network layer, we can't install it. So
-			// we return false.
-			return false
-		}
-
-		// Next, we look for the content type or content disposition headers to see
-		// if they have matching extractors.
-		contentType := res.Header.Get("content-type")
-		foundSuffix, ok := mediaTypeToExtension(contentType)
-		if !ok {
-			// Media type not recognized
-			return false
-		}
+		return false
+	}
 
-		for suffix := range Extractors {
-			if strings.HasSuffix(foundSuffix, suffix) {
-				return true
-			}
-		}
+	// Check if we have an extractor for this media type
+	if suffix, ok := mediaTypeToExtension(contentType); ok {
+		_, hasExtractor := Extractors[suffix]
+		return hasExtractor
 	}
+
 	return false
 }
 
+// isHTTPURL checks if the source is an HTTP or HTTPS URL
+func isHTTPURL(source string) bool {
+	return strings.HasPrefix(source, "http://") || strings.HasPrefix(source, "https://")
+}
+
+// getRemoteContentType performs a HEAD request and returns the content-type
+func getRemoteContentType(url string) (string, error) {
+	res, err := http.Head(url)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	defer res.Body.Close()
+
+	return res.Header.Get("content-type"), nil
+}
+
 // isPlugin checks if the directory contains a plugin.yaml file.
 func isPlugin(dirname string) bool {
 	_, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dirname, plugin.PluginFileName))
diff --git a/internal/plugin/installer/installer_test.go b/internal/plugin/installer/installer_test.go
index dcd76fe9c..9714e72ce 100644
--- a/internal/plugin/installer/installer_test.go
+++ b/internal/plugin/installer/installer_test.go
@@ -18,9 +18,13 @@ package installer
 import "testing"
 
 func TestIsRemoteHTTPArchive(t *testing.T) {
-	srv := mockArchiveServer()
+	srv := mockArchiveServer(map[string]string{
+		".tar.gz":        "application/gzip",
+		".binary.tar.gz": "application/octet-stream",
+	})
 	defer srv.Close()
 	source := srv.URL + "/plugins/fake-plugin-0.0.1.tar.gz"
+	binarySource := srv.URL + "/plugins/fake-plugin-0.0.1.binary.tar.gz"
 
 	if isRemoteHTTPArchive("/not/a/URL") {
 		t.Errorf("Expected non-URL to return false")
@@ -44,4 +48,8 @@ func TestIsRemoteHTTPArchive(t *testing.T) {
 	if isRemoteHTTPArchive(source + "-not-an-extension") {
 		t.Error("Expected media type match to fail")
 	}
+
+	if !isRemoteHTTPArchive(binarySource) {
+		t.Errorf("Expected %q to be a valid archive URL", binarySource)
+	}
 }