diff --git a/appconfig/appconfig.go b/appconfig/appconfig.go
index dbdbf028e..8820cf882 100644
--- a/appconfig/appconfig.go
+++ b/appconfig/appconfig.go
@@ -267,56 +267,61 @@ func (ld *Loader) loadDefaultConfig(ctx context.Context, client *github.Client,
 // getFileContents returns the content of the file at path on ref in owner/repo
 // if it exists. Returns an empty slice and false if the file does not exist.
 func getFileContents(ctx context.Context, client *github.Client, owner, repo, ref, path string) ([]byte, bool, error) {
+	// GetContents returns encoded content for files < 1MB and a download URL
+	// for files between 1MB and 100MB. It returns an error for files >100MB,
+	// but if an app has a configuration file that large, there are probably
+	// other issues...
 	file, _, _, err := client.Repositories.GetContents(ctx, owner, repo, path, &github.RepositoryContentGetOptions{
 		Ref: ref,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		switch {
-		case isNotFound(err):
+		if isNotFound(err) {
 			return nil, false, nil
-		case isTooLargeError(err):
-			b, err := getLargeFileContents(ctx, client, owner, repo, ref, path)
-			return b, true, err
 		}
 		return nil, false, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to read file")
 	}
 
-	// file will be nil if the path exists but is a directory
+	// The file will be nil if the path exists but is a directory
 	if file == nil {
 		return nil, false, nil
 	}
 
+	// If decoding the content fails, ignore the error and try the download URL
+	// instead. The most likely error is if the file is larger than 1MB.
 	content, err := file.GetContent()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, true, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to decode file content")
+	if err == nil {
+		return []byte(content), true, nil
 	}
 
-	return []byte(content), true, nil
-}
+	downloadURL := file.GetDownloadURL()
+	if downloadURL == "" {
+		return nil, true, errors.New("download url is empty")
+	}
 
-// getLargeFileContents is similar to getFileContents, but works for files up
-// to 100MB. Unlike getFileContents, it returns an error if the file does not
-// exist.
-func getLargeFileContents(ctx context.Context, client *github.Client, owner, repo, ref, path string) ([]byte, error) {
-	body, res, err := client.Repositories.DownloadContents(ctx, owner, repo, path, &github.RepositoryContentGetOptions{
-		Ref: ref,
-	})
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, "GET", downloadURL, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, true, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to create download request")
+	}
+
+	res, err := client.Client().Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to read file")
+		return nil, true, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to download file")
 	}
+
 	defer func() {
-		_ = body.Close()
+		_, _ = io.Copy(io.Discard, res.Body)
+		_ = res.Body.Close()
 	}()
 
 	if res.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, errors.Errorf("failed to read file: unexpected status code %d", res.StatusCode)
+		return nil, true, errors.Errorf("failed to download file: unexpected status code %d", res.StatusCode)
 	}
 
-	b, err := io.ReadAll(body)
+	b, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to read file")
+		return nil, true, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to read file")
 	}
-	return b, nil
+	return b, true, nil
 }
 
 func isNotFound(err error) bool {
@@ -325,14 +330,3 @@ func isNotFound(err error) bool {
 	}
 	return false
 }
-
-func isTooLargeError(err error) bool {
-	if rerr, ok := err.(*github.ErrorResponse); ok {
-		for _, err := range rerr.Errors {
-			if err.Code == "too_large" {
-				return true
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
diff --git a/appconfig/appconfig_test.go b/appconfig/appconfig_test.go
index 84eb77ad4..0ea8e29f6 100644
--- a/appconfig/appconfig_test.go
+++ b/appconfig/appconfig_test.go
@@ -149,7 +149,6 @@ func makeTestClient() *github.Client {
 		"/repos/test/local-file/contents/.github/test-app.v2.yml": "404.yml",
 
 		"/repos/test/local-file-large/contents/.github/test-app.yml": "local-file-large-contents.yml",
-		"/repos/test/local-file-large/contents/.github":              "local-file-large-dir-contents.yml",
 		"/test/local-file-large/develop/.github/test-app.yml":        "local-file-large-download.yml",
 
 		"/repos/test/remote-ref/contents/.github/test-app.yml":               "remote-ref-contents.yml",
diff --git a/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-contents.yml b/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-contents.yml
index 3373cfe4c..97f1346d8 100644
--- a/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-contents.yml
+++ b/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-contents.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-- status: 422
+- status: 200
   body: |
     {
-      "errors": [
-        {"code": "too_large"}
-      ]
+      "name": "test-app.yml",
+      "path": ".github/test-app.yml",
+      "size": 15000000,
+      "download_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/test/local-file-large/develop/.github/test-app.yml?token=downloadtoken",
+      "type": "file",
+      "content": "",
+      "encoding": "none"
     }
diff --git a/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-dir-contents.yml b/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-dir-contents.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index bf75a2275..000000000
--- a/appconfig/testdata/local-file-large-dir-contents.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-- status: 200
-  body: |
-    [
-      {
-        "type": "file",
-        "name": "test-app.yml",
-        "path": ".github/test-app.yml",
-        "download_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/test/local-file-large/develop/.github/test-app.yml"
-      }
-    ]