diff --git a/zio-http/jvm/src/test/scala/zio/http/MediaTypeSpec.scala b/zio-http/jvm/src/test/scala/zio/http/MediaTypeSpec.scala
index fd0780fa22..ce43b84d41 100644
--- a/zio-http/jvm/src/test/scala/zio/http/MediaTypeSpec.scala
+++ b/zio-http/jvm/src/test/scala/zio/http/MediaTypeSpec.scala
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ object MediaTypeSpec extends ZIOHttpSpec {
       }
     },
     test("custom mime type parsing") {
-      assertTrue(MediaType.parseCustomMediaType("custom/mime").contains(MediaType("custom", "mime")))
+      assertTrue(MediaType.parseCustomMediaType("custom/mime").contains(MediaType("custom", "mime", binary = true)))
     },
     test("optional parameter parsing") {
       assertTrue(
@@ -48,5 +48,13 @@ object MediaTypeSpec extends ZIOHttpSpec {
           ),
       )
     },
+    test("application/x-zip-compressed should be binary") {
+      val mediaType = MediaType.forContentType("application/x-zip-compressed")
+      assertTrue(mediaType.exists(_.binary))
+    },
+    test("text/plain should not be binary") {
+      val mediaType = MediaType.forContentType("text/plain")
+      assertTrue(mediaType.exists(!_.binary))
+    },
   )
 }
diff --git a/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/MediaType.scala b/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/MediaType.scala
index 8a38bf9ac0..b98c22322e 100644
--- a/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/MediaType.scala
+++ b/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/MediaType.scala
@@ -64,11 +64,14 @@ object MediaType extends MediaTypes {
     val contentTypeParts = customMediaType.split('/')
     if (contentTypeParts.length == 2) {
       val subtypeParts = contentTypeParts(1).split(';')
+      // Default binary to true for unknown types unless they belong to text families
+      val isBinary     = customMediaType != "*/*" && customMediaType != "text/*" && !customMediaType.startsWith("text/")
       if (subtypeParts.length >= 1) {
         Some(
           MediaType(
             mainType = contentTypeParts.head,
             subType = subtypeParts.head,
+            binary = isBinary,
             parameters = if (subtypeParts.length >= 2) parseOptionalParameters(subtypeParts.tail) else Map.empty,
           ),
         )
@@ -80,10 +83,12 @@ object MediaType extends MediaTypes {
     val contentTypeParts = customMediaType.split('/')
     if (contentTypeParts.length == 2) {
       val subtypeParts = contentTypeParts(1).split(';')
+      val isBinary     = customMediaType != "*/*" && customMediaType != "text/*" && !customMediaType.startsWith("text/")
       if (subtypeParts.length >= 1) {
         MediaType(
           mainType = contentTypeParts.head,
           subType = subtypeParts.head,
+          binary = isBinary,
           parameters = if (subtypeParts.length >= 2) parseOptionalParameters(subtypeParts.tail) else Map.empty,
         )
       } else throw new IllegalArgumentException(s"Invalid media type $customMediaType")