diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-catalog.test.ts b/src/main/speech/model-catalog.test.ts
index 9dc099163..f81f57bbf 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-catalog.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-catalog.test.ts
@@ -12,14 +12,11 @@ describe('SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG', () => {
     expect(manifest?.streaming).toBe(false)
     expect(manifest?.sampleRate).toBe(16000)
     expect(manifest?.files).toEqual(['model.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'])
-    expect(manifest?.archiveFormat).toBe('tar.bz2')
-    expect(manifest?.sizeBytes).toBe(489_389_564)
-    expect(manifest?.downloadUrl).toBe(
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt_ctc-0.6b-ja-35000-int8.tar.bz2'
-    )
-    expect(manifest?.archiveSha256).toBe(
-      '4b0a800ef29f4f4c8667339bf6f60d5bfdc2852ddc9dc5741aea65b6f8d1306b'
-    )
+    expect(manifest?.sizeBytes).toBe(655_571_161)
+    expect(manifest?.downloadFiles?.map(({ name }) => name)).toEqual([
+      'model.int8.onnx',
+      'tokens.txt'
+    ])
   })
 
   it('has unique ids across the catalog', () => {
@@ -42,14 +39,10 @@ describe('SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG', () => {
     expect(model?.files).toEqual(['model.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'])
   })
 
-  it('downloads the upstream int8-only SenseVoice archive', () => {
+  it('downloads only the pinned SenseVoice runtime files', () => {
     const model = getCatalogModel('sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue')
-    expect(model?.sizeBytes).toBe(163_002_883)
-    expect(model?.downloadUrl).toBe(
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue-int8-2024-07-17.tar.bz2'
-    )
-    expect(model?.archiveSha256).toBe(
-      '7d1efa2138a65b0b488df37f8b89e3d91a60676e416f515b952358d83dfd347e'
-    )
+    expect(model?.sizeBytes).toBe(239_549_735)
+    expect(model?.downloadFiles).toHaveLength(2)
+    expect(model?.downloadFiles?.map(({ name }) => name)).toEqual(['model.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'])
   })
 })
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-catalog.ts b/src/main/speech/model-catalog.ts
index 65c74d18b..670999b44 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-catalog.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-catalog.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import type { SpeechModelManifest } from '../../shared/speech-types'
+import { getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata } from './model-download-catalog'
 
-// Why: sizeBytes must be the exact upstream asset size — it is the UI size
-// label and the download-progress denominator when content-length is missing.
 export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
   {
     id: 'parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8',
@@ -11,12 +10,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'multilingual',
-    sizeBytes: 487_170_055,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '5793d0fd397c5778d2cf2126994d58e9d56b1be7c04d13c7a15bb1b4eafb16bf',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['encoder.int8.onnx', 'decoder.int8.onnx', 'joiner.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: false,
     modelingUnit: 'bpe',
@@ -30,12 +24,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'en',
-    sizeBytes: 482_468_385,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '157c157bc51155e03e37d2466522a3a737dd9c72bb25f36eb18912964161e1ad',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['encoder.int8.onnx', 'decoder.int8.onnx', 'joiner.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: false,
     modelingUnit: 'bpe'
@@ -47,17 +36,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'zh-en',
-    sizeBytes: 511_274_346,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-bilingual-zh-en-2023-02-20.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '27ffbd9ee24ad186d99acc2f6354d7992b27bcab490812510665fa8f9389c5f8',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: [
-      'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'tokens.txt'
-    ],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('zipformer-bilingual-zh-en'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: true,
     modelingUnit: 'cjkchar+bpe'
@@ -70,12 +49,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'paraformer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'zh-en',
-    sizeBytes: 1_047_319_737,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-streaming-paraformer-bilingual-zh-en.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '5462a1fce42693deae572af1e8c4687124b12aa85fe61ff4d3168bb5280e205f',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['encoder.int8.onnx', 'decoder.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('paraformer-bilingual-zh-en'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: true
   },
@@ -86,17 +60,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'en',
-    sizeBytes: 127_887_156,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-en-20M-2023-02-17.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '9c559283e8498d3fe95913c79ca1cb454bb26281ac2b102b41306c7d752765d9',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: [
-      'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'tokens.txt'
-    ],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('zipformer-streaming-en-20m'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: true,
     modelingUnit: 'bpe'
@@ -108,17 +72,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'zh',
-    sizeBytes: 74_004_050,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-zh-14M-2023-02-23.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '2cbd71b640d9c37d3784f29367333a4577b0398b62e9deeed418170b081cba8b',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: [
-      'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
-      'tokens.txt'
-    ],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('zipformer-streaming-zh-14m'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: true,
     modelingUnit: 'cjkchar'
@@ -130,17 +84,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'transducer',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'ko',
-    sizeBytes: 418_218_652,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-korean-2024-06-16.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: 'e346a5882a409650472be17326237e24df7bf409db6b4a8a52e1a61422bf2500',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: [
-      'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
-      'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
-      'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
-      'tokens.txt'
-    ],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('zipformer-streaming-korean'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: true,
     modelingUnit: 'bpe'
@@ -152,12 +96,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'nemo-ctc',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'ja',
-    sizeBytes: 489_389_564,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt_ctc-0.6b-ja-35000-int8.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '4b0a800ef29f4f4c8667339bf6f60d5bfdc2852ddc9dc5741aea65b6f8d1306b',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['model.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('parakeet-tdt-ctc-0.6b-ja-int8'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: false
   },
@@ -168,12 +107,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'whisper',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'multilingual',
-    sizeBytes: 116_204_861,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-whisper-tiny.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: 'c46116994e539aa165266d96b325252728429c12535eb9d8b6a2b10f129e66b1',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['tiny-encoder.onnx', 'tiny-decoder.onnx', 'tiny-tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('whisper-tiny'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: false
   },
@@ -185,12 +119,7 @@ export const SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG: SpeechModelManifest[] = [
     type: 'senseVoice',
     provider: 'local',
     language: 'multilingual',
-    sizeBytes: 163_002_883,
-    downloadUrl:
-      'https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/asr-models/sherpa-onnx-sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue-int8-2024-07-17.tar.bz2',
-    archiveSha256: '7d1efa2138a65b0b488df37f8b89e3d91a60676e416f515b952358d83dfd347e',
-    archiveFormat: 'tar.bz2',
-    files: ['model.int8.onnx', 'tokens.txt'],
+    ...getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata('sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue'),
     sampleRate: 16000,
     streaming: false
   },
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-download-catalog.ts b/src/main/speech/model-download-catalog.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e71e4966c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-download-catalog.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+import type { SpeechModelDownloadFile } from '../../shared/speech-types'
+
+type DownloadFileSpec = readonly [name: string, sizeBytes: number, sha256: string]
+
+function huggingFaceFiles(
+  repository: string,
+  revision: string,
+  specs: DownloadFileSpec[]
+): SpeechModelDownloadFile[] {
+  return specs.map(([name, sizeBytes, sha256]) => ({
+    name,
+    url: `https://huggingface.co/${repository}/resolve/${revision}/${encodeURIComponent(name)}?download=true`,
+    sizeBytes,
+    sha256
+  }))
+}
+
+// Why: immutable revisions plus per-file hashes keep direct downloads equivalent to pinned archives.
+const MODEL_DOWNLOAD_FILES = {
+  'parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8',
+    '2bda32ec70b097a55adaa07d9a7173915b43cc78',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder.int8.onnx',
+        652_184_281,
+        'acfc2b4456377e15d04f0243af540b7fe7c992f8d898d751cf134c3a55fd2247'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder.int8.onnx',
+        11_845_275,
+        '179e50c43d1a9de79c8a24149a2f9bac6eb5981823f2a2ed88d655b24248db4e'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner.int8.onnx',
+        6_355_277,
+        '3164c13fc2821009440d20fcb5fdc78bff28b4db2f8d0f0b329101719c0948b3'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 93_939, 'd58544679ea4bc6ac563d1f545eb7d474bd6cfa467f0a6e2c1dc1c7d37e3c35d']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8',
+    '1ab9323565ddb038682214b292f588070a538ce2',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder.int8.onnx',
+        652_184_296,
+        'a32b12d17bbbc309d0686fbbcc2987b5e9b8333a7da83fa6b089f0a2acd651ab'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder.int8.onnx',
+        7_257_753,
+        'b6bb64963457237b900e496ee9994b59294526439fbcc1fecf705b31a15c6b4e'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner.int8.onnx',
+        1_739_080,
+        '7946164367946e7f9f29a122407c3252b680dbae9a51343eb2488d057c3c43d2'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 9_384, 'ec182b70dd42113aff6c5372c75cac58c952443eb22322f57bbd7f53977d497d']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'zipformer-bilingual-zh-en': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-bilingual-zh-en-2023-02-20',
+    '98590b7ed6443e77b714204da2757d75e1a642f4',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        330_083_505,
+        '709f0ed53a734b7942f170127e7547b566cb29c4afc5e67719f314c3d63ccb10'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        13_876_452,
+        '2e3b5ec371f8899ee6acd829fd753ba45772df57a91bdf37cde3136354e7db7d'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        12_833_618,
+        '5f2adc585dd1bec6421c8bb8660d2a73fc8b9ceb24491ef51399ba2a2f0fc31b'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 56_317, 'a8e0e4ec53810e433789b54a5c0134a7eaa2ffca595a6334d54c00da858841d3'],
+      ['bpe.vocab', 12_564, 'd0b642f3a2eacd5fadefdeff9e0e1358cab729647cbb7fe58cf738e1f7407029']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'paraformer-bilingual-zh-en': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-streaming-paraformer-bilingual-zh-en',
+    '8e40c43232a1c5c66c82111efc5820d3accca11b',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder.int8.onnx',
+        165_462_184,
+        '81a70226a8934e6ed92aa1d4fc486b428b5398e2f2619ed4897b7294cab90e9a'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder.int8.onnx',
+        71_664_561,
+        'f3cca9f77bb9d93c8fcbfb63ae617b6b1ee96818df3aa3b151c40658fe38594f'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 75_756, '59aba8873a2ed1e122c25fee421e25f283b63290efbde85c1f01a853d83cb6e6']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'zipformer-streaming-en-20m': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-en-20M-2023-02-17',
+    'd42f2d9f7ca24806fb667456a18a9f1b60f70d16',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        88_804_590,
+        'f77a22f4ff94604e1afb2aeb13504d7699363528c047c97d3436087c95c9b659'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        2_092_272,
+        '45a7f940ecfb53d89fa270ad11b88b961e53a317203eb24b1c8e95ed208b0f30'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        1_026_462,
+        '343e17dffa4f386ca206e00d3c406908f68f473c3d35968d6c3cddd5b8559a94'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 5_048, '49e3c2646595fd907228b3c6787069658f67b17377c60aeb8619c4551b2316fb']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'zipformer-streaming-zh-14m': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-zh-14M-2023-02-23',
+    '204ad334e2e683fd295359930cc16fc0432a23ac',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        40_948_171,
+        '84c6a8f372686faa5b8f45f2d79f0816f76dcd9f547acb9a90eba2772d7eda8b'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        7_509_745,
+        '5ee0f03a2768ff1d5c83ef3a493243c7935d316cd41280037b14783a3467cc78'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.onnx',
+        7_109_975,
+        '030212efaea9a8b6a4fa98faf6ac6055529c4408cf4865e898220ddd02780f34'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 48_697, '8b294db9045d6e5f94647f4c1eec1af4da143a75053c399611444b378ff966ac']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'zipformer-streaming-korean': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx-streaming-zipformer-korean-2024-06-16',
+    'ba6078bca4daf3f0dd37f79d0ab505af71df14a6',
+    [
+      [
+        'encoder-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
+        126_968_852,
+        '8d0b1aa24fbedd4e3948564ab7facd151b8ce9b0c48fc987c541de2de3af5697'
+      ],
+      [
+        'decoder-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
+        2_844_692,
+        '68ea197936aabd249f38b53a87c775422bca64428ad4427d0e6e8092593e71fb'
+      ],
+      [
+        'joiner-epoch-99-avg-1.int8.onnx',
+        2_581_421,
+        '128b80a66a1f718488af8560f9d15895109b99ff3e573f0a0130e03774ef1ced'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 60_246, '016bdf0965029263b7ad01b742366ee542ef0bef38261510e8176ff6f2e9e668']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'parakeet-tdt-ctc-0.6b-ja-int8': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-nemo-parakeet-tdt_ctc-0.6b-ja-35000-int8',
+    'bef18eb066808c90bd0f5df5be685767b0732de8',
+    [
+      [
+        'model.int8.onnx',
+        655_542_604,
+        '3addd00ef5bd1742078389e540b77394e4a508bdf2f4c9ad1b4a76d93e76598e'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 28_557, '732f64c53909f2620c713f4106b487d92e6f54a6915b3cd3d1dbd32f9f4f392a']
+    ]
+  ),
+  'whisper-tiny': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-whisper-tiny',
+    '65176e2deb88badc814a94058666cadccc29b61c',
+    [
+      [
+        'tiny-encoder.onnx',
+        37_647_080,
+        '42c1d4cbf889632ba21ab6f0d4064c80209755f265ce5cd630db4a6793e7089c'
+      ],
+      [
+        'tiny-decoder.onnx',
+        114_505_801,
+        'e144c07dc6b55cece24392811f2d934b97013811f5e677d1315d341a0a74a25d'
+      ],
+      [
+        'tiny-tokens.txt',
+        816_730,
+        'b34b360dbb493e781e479794586d661700670d65564001f23024971d1f2fa126'
+      ]
+    ]
+  ),
+  'sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue': huggingFaceFiles(
+    'csukuangfj/sherpa-onnx-sense-voice-zh-en-ja-ko-yue-2024-07-17',
+    '2365baeacb507f821a0c8120fcee3d484dba7a07',
+    [
+      [
+        'model.int8.onnx',
+        239_233_841,
+        'c71f0ce00bec95b07744e116345e33d8cbbe08cef896382cf907bf4b51a2cd51'
+      ],
+      ['tokens.txt', 315_894, 'f449eb28dc567533d7fa59be34e2abca8784f771850c78a47fb731a31429a1dc']
+    ]
+  )
+}
+
+export type DownloadableSpeechModelId = keyof typeof MODEL_DOWNLOAD_FILES
+
+export function getSpeechModelDownloadMetadata(modelId: DownloadableSpeechModelId): {
+  downloadFiles: SpeechModelDownloadFile[]
+  files: string[]
+  sizeBytes: number
+} {
+  const downloadFiles = MODEL_DOWNLOAD_FILES[modelId]
+  return {
+    downloadFiles,
+    files: downloadFiles.map(({ name }) => name),
+    sizeBytes: downloadFiles.reduce((total, { sizeBytes }) => total + sizeBytes, 0)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-manager-download-resume.test.ts b/src/main/speech/model-manager-download-resume.test.ts
index bbfc88e74..60645d1aa 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-manager-download-resume.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-manager-download-resume.test.ts
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ vi.mock('electron', () => ({
 }))
 
 type ModelManagerInternals = {
-  downloadArchiveWithRetry: (
+  downloadFileWithRetry: (
     url: string,
-    archivePath: string,
+    filePath: string,
     expectedSize: number,
     modelId: string,
     isAborted: () => boolean,
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ type ModelManagerInternals = {
   ) => Promise<void>
   downloadFile: (
     url: string,
-    archivePath: string,
+    filePath: string,
     expectedSize: number,
     modelId: string,
     isAborted: () => boolean,
@@ -141,11 +141,11 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         }
       })
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -154,13 +154,13 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
 
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
       expect(second.sentHeaders.range).toBe('bytes=10-')
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
   })
 
-  it('uses a complete archive after a late transport failure without requesting past EOF', async () => {
+  it('uses a complete file after a late transport failure without requesting past EOF', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-resume-'))
     try {
       scriptRequest(() => ({
@@ -170,11 +170,11 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         failWith: 'net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET'
       }))
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -182,13 +182,13 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       )
 
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
   })
 
-  it('requests the remaining bytes when a clean range response ends before the archive total', async () => {
+  it('requests the remaining bytes when a clean range response ends before the file total', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-resume-'))
     try {
       const first = scriptRequest((sentHeaders) => {
@@ -214,12 +214,12 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         }
       })
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
-      writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
+      writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
       expect(first.sentHeaders.range).toBe('bytes=10-')
       expect(second.sentHeaders.range).toBe('bytes=15-')
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
@@ -263,12 +263,12 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         }
       })
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
-      writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 1))
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
+      writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 1))
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       )
 
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(10)
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
@@ -286,20 +286,20 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-resume-'))
     try {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
       let bytesWritten = 0
       // Advances one byte per request against a total larger than the request
       // ceiling, so it makes forward progress forever without ever completing.
       const downloadFileMock = vi.spyOn(manager, 'downloadFile').mockImplementation(() => {
         bytesWritten += 1
-        writeFileSync(archivePath, Buffer.alloc(bytesWritten))
+        writeFileSync(filePath, Buffer.alloc(bytesWritten))
         return Promise.resolve()
       })
 
       await expect(
-        manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-          'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          archivePath,
+        manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+          'https://example.com/model.bin',
+          filePath,
           1_000_000,
           'm',
           () => false,
@@ -324,18 +324,18 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       // it takes (regression guard: a fixed failure budget used to abandon a
       // still-advancing large download around attempt 8).
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
       const SLICE = 2
       let delivered = 0
       const downloadFileMock = vi.spyOn(manager, 'downloadFile').mockImplementation(() => {
         delivered = Math.min(delivered + SLICE, PAYLOAD.length)
-        writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, delivered))
+        writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, delivered))
         return Promise.reject(new Error('net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET'))
       })
 
-      const download = manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      const download = manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -351,14 +351,14 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
 
       await expect(outcome).resolves.toBe('resolved')
       expect(downloadFileMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(PAYLOAD.length / SLICE)
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       vi.useRealTimers()
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
   })
 
-  it('keeps the known archive total when Content-Range omits it', async () => {
+  it('keeps the known file total when Content-Range omits it', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-resume-'))
     try {
       scriptRequest((sentHeaders) => {
@@ -384,12 +384,12 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         }
       })
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
-      writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
+      writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       )
 
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
@@ -415,13 +415,13 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         chunks: [PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10)]
       }))
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
-      writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
+      writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD.subarray(0, 10))
 
       const error = await manager
         .downloadFile(
-          'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          archivePath,
+          'https://example.com/model.bin',
+          filePath,
           PAYLOAD.length,
           'm',
           () => false,
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         message: 'Invalid Content-Range for resume at byte 10',
         retryable: true
       })
-      expect(existsSync(archivePath)).toBe(false)
+      expect(existsSync(filePath)).toBe(false)
       expect(mismatched.abortMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
@@ -457,11 +457,11 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         chunks: [PAYLOAD]
       }))
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
 
-      await manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      await manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       )
 
       expect(netRequestMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
-      expect(readFileSync(archivePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
+      expect(readFileSync(filePath)).toEqual(PAYLOAD)
     } finally {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
@@ -482,9 +482,9 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
       await expect(
-        manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-          'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+        manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+          'https://example.com/model.bin',
+          join(dir, 'model.bin'),
           PAYLOAD.length,
           'm',
           () => false,
@@ -509,8 +509,8 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
 
       const error = await manager
         .downloadFile(
-          'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+          'https://example.com/model.bin',
+          join(dir, 'model.bin'),
           PAYLOAD.length,
           'm',
           () => false
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-resume-'))
     try {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.bin')
       const rateLimitError = Object.assign(new Error('HTTP 429'), {
         httpStatusCode: 429,
         retryAfterMs: 3_000
@@ -538,12 +538,12 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         .spyOn(manager, 'downloadFile')
         .mockRejectedValueOnce(rateLimitError)
         .mockImplementationOnce(() => {
-          writeFileSync(archivePath, PAYLOAD)
+          writeFileSync(filePath, PAYLOAD)
           return Promise.resolve()
         })
-      const download = manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        archivePath,
+      const download = manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        filePath,
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -572,9 +572,9 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       const downloadFileMock = vi.spyOn(manager, 'downloadFile').mockRejectedValue(rateLimitError)
 
       await expect(
-        manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-          'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+        manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+          'https://example.com/model.bin',
+          join(dir, 'model.bin'),
           PAYLOAD.length,
           'm',
           () => false,
@@ -597,9 +597,9 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
         .spyOn(manager, 'downloadFile')
         .mockRejectedValue(new Error('net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET'))
 
-      const download = manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+      const download = manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        join(dir, 'model.bin'),
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
@@ -645,9 +645,9 @@ describe('ModelManager download resume', () => {
       const controller = new AbortController()
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
-      const download = manager.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+      const download = manager.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        join(dir, 'model.bin'),
         PAYLOAD.length,
         'm',
         () => false,
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-manager-stream-cleanup.test.ts b/src/main/speech/model-manager-stream-cleanup.test.ts
index fecec7980..dcebaca37 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-manager-stream-cleanup.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-manager-stream-cleanup.test.ts
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ describe('ModelManager stream cleanup', () => {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
       const download = manager.downloadFile(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        join(dir, 'model.bin'),
         4,
         'm',
         () => false
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-manager-windows-path.test.ts b/src/main/speech/model-manager-windows-path.test.ts
index b383b16bc..3b72cc832 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-manager-windows-path.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-manager-windows-path.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { existsSync, mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, truncateSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
@@ -84,13 +84,16 @@ describe('ModelManager Windows model path handling', () => {
       appGetPathMock.mockImplementation((name: string) =>
         name === 'userData' ? userDataDir : join(dir, name)
       )
-      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find((model) => model.provider === 'local')
+      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find(
+        (model) => model.id === 'zipformer-streaming-zh-14m'
+      )
       expect(manifest?.files).toBeDefined()
       const legacyModelDir = join(userDataDir, 'speech-models', manifest!.id)
-      for (const file of manifest!.files ?? []) {
-        const filePath = join(legacyModelDir, file)
+      for (const file of manifest!.downloadFiles ?? []) {
+        const filePath = join(legacyModelDir, file.name)
         mkdirSync(dirname(filePath), { recursive: true })
-        writeFileSync(filePath, 'model file')
+        writeFileSync(filePath, '')
+        truncateSync(filePath, file.sizeBytes)
       }
 
       const manager = new ModelManager()
@@ -120,12 +123,15 @@ describe('ModelManager Windows model path handling', () => {
       appGetPathMock.mockImplementation((name: string) =>
         name === 'userData' ? userDataDir : join(dir, name)
       )
-      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find((model) => model.provider === 'local')
+      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find(
+        (model) => model.id === 'zipformer-streaming-zh-14m'
+      )
       const legacyModelDir = join(userDataDir, 'speech-models', manifest!.id)
-      for (const file of manifest!.files ?? []) {
-        const filePath = join(legacyModelDir, file)
+      for (const file of manifest!.downloadFiles ?? []) {
+        const filePath = join(legacyModelDir, file.name)
         mkdirSync(dirname(filePath), { recursive: true })
-        writeFileSync(filePath, 'model file')
+        writeFileSync(filePath, '')
+        truncateSync(filePath, file.sizeBytes)
       }
 
       const manager = new ModelManager()
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-manager.test.ts b/src/main/speech/model-manager.test.ts
index 07d78749b..006ba707f 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-manager.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-manager.test.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto'
-import { existsSync, mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, truncateSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path'
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 import { SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG } from './model-catalog'
 import { ModelManager } from './model-manager'
 
-const { hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock, netRequestMock, spawnMock } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+const { hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock, netRequestMock } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock: vi.fn(),
-  netRequestMock: vi.fn(),
-  spawnMock: vi.fn()
+  netRequestMock: vi.fn()
 }))
 
 vi.mock('electron', () => ({
@@ -21,17 +20,22 @@ vi.mock('electron', () => ({
   }
 }))
 
-vi.mock('child_process', async () => {
-  const actual = await vi.importActual('child_process')
-  return { ...(actual as Record<string, unknown>), spawn: spawnMock }
-})
-
 vi.mock('./openai-api-key-store', () => ({
   hasOpenAiSpeechApiKey: hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock
 }))
 
 type ModelManagerInternals = {
-  verifyArchiveSha256: (archivePath: string, expectedSha256: string) => Promise<void>
+  verifyFileSha256: (filePath: string, expectedSha256: string) => Promise<void>
+  downloadFileWithRetry: (
+    url: string,
+    filePath: string,
+    expectedSize: number,
+    modelId: string,
+    isAborted: () => boolean,
+    signal: AbortSignal,
+    completedBytes?: number,
+    modelTotalBytes?: number
+  ) => Promise<void>
   downloadFile: (
     url: string,
     dest: string,
@@ -40,12 +44,6 @@ type ModelManagerInternals = {
     isAborted: () => boolean,
     signal?: AbortSignal
   ) => Promise<void>
-  extractArchive: (
-    archivePath: string,
-    destDir: string,
-    modelId: string,
-    isAborted: () => boolean
-  ) => Promise<void>
 }
 
 describe('ModelManager', () => {
@@ -53,28 +51,38 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
     netRequestMock.mockReset()
     hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock.mockReset()
     hasOpenAiSpeechApiKeyMock.mockReturnValue(false)
-    spawnMock.mockReset()
   })
 
-  it('requires pinned SHA-256 hashes for every catalog archive', () => {
+  it('requires pinned, internally consistent metadata for every model file', () => {
     for (const manifest of SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG) {
       if (manifest.provider !== 'local') {
         continue
       }
-      expect(manifest.archiveSha256).toMatch(/^[a-f0-9]{64}$/)
+      expect(manifest.downloadFiles?.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+      expect(manifest.files).toEqual(manifest.downloadFiles?.map(({ name }) => name))
+      expect(manifest.sizeBytes).toBe(
+        manifest.downloadFiles?.reduce((total, { sizeBytes }) => total + sizeBytes, 0)
+      )
+      for (const file of manifest.downloadFiles ?? []) {
+        expect(file.url).toMatch(
+          /^https:\/\/huggingface\.co\/[^/]+\/[^/]+\/resolve\/[a-f0-9]{40}\//
+        )
+        expect(file.sha256).toMatch(/^[a-f0-9]{64}$/)
+        expect(file.sizeBytes).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+      }
     }
   })
 
-  it('verifies downloaded archive hashes before extraction', async () => {
+  it('verifies downloaded model file hashes before installation', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-manager-'))
     try {
-      const archivePath = join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2')
-      writeFileSync(archivePath, 'known archive bytes')
-      const expected = createHash('sha256').update('known archive bytes').digest('hex')
+      const filePath = join(dir, 'model.onnx')
+      writeFileSync(filePath, 'known model bytes')
+      const expected = createHash('sha256').update('known model bytes').digest('hex')
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
-      await expect(manager.verifyArchiveSha256(archivePath, expected)).resolves.toBeUndefined()
-      await expect(manager.verifyArchiveSha256(archivePath, '0'.repeat(64))).rejects.toThrow(
+      await expect(manager.verifyFileSha256(filePath, expected)).resolves.toBeUndefined()
+      await expect(manager.verifyFileSha256(filePath, '0'.repeat(64))).rejects.toThrow(
         /integrity verification/
       )
     } finally {
@@ -89,8 +97,8 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
 
       await expect(
         manager.downloadFile(
-          'http://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-          join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+          'http://example.com/model.bin',
+          join(dir, 'model.bin'),
           1,
           'm',
           () => false
@@ -101,6 +109,46 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  it('installs individually verified model files through a staging directory', async () => {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-manager-'))
+    try {
+      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find(
+        (model) => model.id === 'zipformer-streaming-zh-14m'
+      )!
+      const manager = new ModelManager(dir)
+      const internals = manager as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
+      const downloadMock = vi
+        .spyOn(internals, 'downloadFileWithRetry')
+        .mockImplementation(async (_url, filePath, expectedSize) => {
+          writeFileSync(filePath, '')
+          truncateSync(filePath, expectedSize)
+        })
+      const verifyMock = vi.spyOn(internals, 'verifyFileSha256').mockResolvedValue()
+
+      await manager.downloadModel(manifest.id)
+
+      const modelDir = manager.getModelDir(manifest.id)
+      expect(downloadMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(manifest.downloadFiles?.length ?? 0)
+      expect(verifyMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(manifest.downloadFiles?.length ?? 0)
+      let expectedOffset = 0
+      for (const [index, file] of (manifest.downloadFiles ?? []).entries()) {
+        expect(downloadMock.mock.calls[index]?.slice(6)).toEqual([
+          expectedOffset,
+          manifest.sizeBytes
+        ])
+        expectedOffset += file.sizeBytes
+        expect(existsSync(join(modelDir, file.name))).toBe(true)
+      }
+      expect(existsSync(`${modelDir}.partial`)).toBe(false)
+      await expect(manager.getModelState(manifest.id)).resolves.toEqual({
+        id: manifest.id,
+        status: 'ready'
+      })
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    }
+  })
+
   it('marks OpenAI transcription models ready only when an API key is configured', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-manager-'))
     try {
@@ -125,14 +173,17 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
   it('deletes a ready local model and reports it as not downloaded', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-manager-'))
     try {
-      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find((model) => model.provider === 'local')
+      const manifest = SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG.find(
+        (model) => model.id === 'zipformer-streaming-zh-14m'
+      )
       expect(manifest?.files).toBeDefined()
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir)
       const modelDir = manager.getModelDir(manifest!.id)
-      for (const file of manifest!.files ?? []) {
-        const path = join(modelDir, file)
+      for (const file of manifest!.downloadFiles ?? []) {
+        const path = join(modelDir, file.name)
         mkdirSync(dirname(path), { recursive: true })
-        writeFileSync(path, 'model file')
+        writeFileSync(path, '')
+        truncateSync(path, file.sizeBytes)
       }
 
       await expect(manager.getModelState(manifest!.id)).resolves.toEqual({
@@ -288,8 +339,8 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
       const download = manager.downloadFile(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        join(dir, 'model.bin'),
         1,
         'm',
         () => true,
@@ -370,8 +421,8 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
       const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
 
       const download = manager.downloadFile(
-        'https://example.com/model.tar.bz2',
-        join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'),
+        'https://example.com/model.bin',
+        join(dir, 'model.bin'),
         1,
         'm',
         () => false
@@ -397,59 +448,4 @@ describe('ModelManager', () => {
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
   })
-
-  it('clears extraction abort polling when the child does not close', async () => {
-    vi.useFakeTimers()
-    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-model-manager-'))
-    try {
-      const handlers: Record<string, ((arg?: unknown) => void)[]> = {
-        close: [],
-        error: []
-      }
-      const stderrHandlers: ((chunk: Buffer) => void)[] = []
-      const child = {
-        stderr: {
-          on: vi.fn((_event: string, cb: (chunk: Buffer) => void) => {
-            stderrHandlers.push(cb)
-            return child.stderr
-          }),
-          off: vi.fn((_event: string, cb: (chunk: Buffer) => void) => {
-            const index = stderrHandlers.indexOf(cb)
-            if (index !== -1) {
-              stderrHandlers.splice(index, 1)
-            }
-            return child.stderr
-          })
-        },
-        kill: vi.fn(),
-        on: vi.fn((event: string, cb: (arg?: unknown) => void) => {
-          handlers[event]?.push(cb)
-          return child
-        }),
-        off: vi.fn((event: string, cb: (arg?: unknown) => void) => {
-          handlers[event] = handlers[event]?.filter((handler) => handler !== cb) ?? []
-          return child
-        })
-      }
-      spawnMock.mockReturnValue(child)
-      const manager = new ModelManager(dir) as unknown as ModelManagerInternals
-
-      const extraction = manager.extractArchive(join(dir, 'model.tar.bz2'), dir, 'm', () => true)
-      const rejection = expect(extraction).rejects.toThrow('Aborted')
-      await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(250)
-      await rejection
-
-      expect(child.kill).toHaveBeenCalledWith('SIGKILL')
-      expect(child.kill).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
-      expect(handlers.close).toHaveLength(0)
-      expect(handlers.error).toHaveLength(0)
-      expect(stderrHandlers).toHaveLength(0)
-
-      vi.advanceTimersByTime(1000)
-      expect(child.kill).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
-    } finally {
-      vi.useRealTimers()
-      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })
-    }
-  })
 })
diff --git a/src/main/speech/model-manager.ts b/src/main/speech/model-manager.ts
index 2b8bca8bb..9125ffa49 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/model-manager.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/model-manager.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* eslint-disable max-lines -- Why: model download, checksum, extraction, and cleanup share one state machine so progress/error transitions stay coupled. */
+/* eslint-disable max-lines -- Why: model download, checksum, retry, and cleanup share one state machine so progress/error transitions stay coupled. */
 import { app, net } from 'electron'
 import { join, resolve, relative } from 'node:path'
 import {
@@ -9,10 +9,9 @@ import {
   rmSync,
   statSync
 } from 'node:fs'
-import { readdir, rm } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { rename, rm } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto'
 import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'
-import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'
 import type {
   SpeechModelManifest,
   SpeechModelState,
@@ -20,7 +19,6 @@ import type {
 } from '../../shared/speech-types'
 import { SPEECH_MODEL_CATALOG, getCatalogModel, isLocalSpeechModel } from './model-catalog'
 import { hasOpenAiSpeechApiKey } from './openai-api-key-store'
-import { resolveTarExecutable } from './tar-executable'
 import {
   getSpeechModelCacheDirCandidates,
   migrateSpeechModelCacheIfNeeded,
@@ -42,7 +40,11 @@ type HttpStatusError = Error & {
   retryAfterMs?: number
   retryable?: boolean
 }
-type DownloadTotals = { totalBytes: number }
+type DownloadTotals = {
+  totalBytes: number
+  completedBytes: number
+  modelTotalBytes: number
+}
 type ContentRange = { start: number; end: number; totalBytes?: number }
 
 const DOWNLOAD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000
@@ -254,10 +256,16 @@ export class ModelManager {
   }
 
   private validateModelFiles(manifest: SpeechModelManifest, modelDir: string): boolean {
-    if (!manifest.files) {
+    if (!manifest.downloadFiles) {
       return false
     }
-    return manifest.files.every((f) => existsSync(join(modelDir, f)))
+    return manifest.downloadFiles.every(({ name, sizeBytes }) => {
+      try {
+        return statSync(join(modelDir, name)).size === sizeBytes
+      } catch {
+        return false
+      }
+    })
   }
 
   async downloadModel(modelId: string): Promise<void> {
@@ -273,7 +281,7 @@ export class ModelManager {
     if (!isLocalSpeechModel(manifest)) {
       throw new Error(`Model does not support downloads: ${modelId}`)
     }
-    if (!manifest.downloadUrl || !manifest.archiveSha256 || !manifest.sizeBytes) {
+    if (!manifest.downloadFiles?.length || !manifest.sizeBytes) {
       throw new Error(`Model download metadata missing: ${modelId}`)
     }
 
@@ -285,15 +293,16 @@ export class ModelManager {
 
     this.updateState(modelId, 'downloading', 0)
 
-    const archivePath = join(this.modelsDir, `${modelId}.tar.bz2`)
-    // Why: resume appends, so a leftover archive from a crashed run would corrupt the download.
+    const stagingDir = `${modelDir}.partial`
+    const legacyArchivePath = join(this.modelsDir, `${modelId}.tar.bz2`)
+    // Why: resuming an unverified file left by a crashed process could preserve corrupt bytes.
+    rmSync(stagingDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     try {
-      if (existsSync(archivePath)) {
-        rmSync(archivePath)
-      }
+      rmSync(legacyArchivePath, { force: true })
     } catch {
-      // best-effort; the first (non-resumed) attempt truncates on write
+      // best-effort legacy cleanup
     }
+    mkdirSync(stagingDir, { recursive: true })
     let aborted = false
     const abortController = new AbortController()
 
@@ -307,69 +316,34 @@ export class ModelManager {
     this.activeDownloads.set(modelId, handle)
 
     try {
-      await this.downloadArchiveWithRetry(
-        manifest.downloadUrl,
-        archivePath,
-        manifest.sizeBytes,
+      await this.downloadModelFiles(
+        manifest,
+        stagingDir,
         modelId,
         () => aborted,
         abortController.signal
       )
 
       if (aborted) {
-        this.cleanup(modelId, archivePath)
         return
       }
 
-      await this.verifyArchiveSha256(archivePath, manifest.archiveSha256)
-
-      if (aborted) {
-        this.cleanup(modelId, archivePath)
-        return
-      }
-
-      this.updateState(modelId, 'extracting')
-      await this.extractArchive(archivePath, this.modelsDir, modelId, () => aborted)
-
-      if (aborted) {
-        this.cleanup(modelId, archivePath)
-        return
-      }
-
-      if (!this.validateModelFiles(manifest, modelDir)) {
-        // Why: some archives nest files in a subdir; scan one level down and move them up.
-        await this.flattenNestedDir(modelDir, manifest)
-      }
-
-      if (aborted) {
-        this.cleanup(modelId, archivePath)
-        return
-      }
-
-      if (!this.validateModelFiles(manifest, modelDir)) {
-        throw new Error('Model files missing after extraction')
-      }
-
+      await rm(modelDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+      await rename(stagingDir, modelDir)
       this.updateState(modelId, 'ready')
     } catch (err) {
       if (!aborted) {
         console.error('[speech] Model download failed:', modelId, err)
         this.updateState(modelId, 'error', undefined, String(err))
       }
-      this.cleanup(modelId, archivePath)
+      this.removeModelDownloadFiles(modelDir, stagingDir, legacyArchivePath)
       if (!aborted) {
         // Why: the settings UI awaits this to surface failures; stay quiet on cancellation, rethrow real errors.
         throw err
       }
     } finally {
       this.activeDownloads.delete(modelId)
-      try {
-        if (existsSync(archivePath)) {
-          rmSync(archivePath)
-        }
-      } catch {
-        // best-effort archive cleanup
-      }
+      this.removeModelDownloadStaging(stagingDir, legacyArchivePath)
     }
   }
 
@@ -395,6 +369,8 @@ export class ModelManager {
     if (existsSync(modelDir)) {
       await rm(modelDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     }
+    await rm(`${modelDir}.partial`, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    await rm(join(this.modelsDir, `${modelId}.tar.bz2`), { force: true })
     // Why: also delete the pre-migration copy, or the next launch re-migrates it and resurrects the model.
     if (this.migrationSourceDir) {
       const sourceModelDir = this.getSafeModelDir(modelId, this.migrationSourceDir)
@@ -420,28 +396,75 @@ export class ModelManager {
     }
   }
 
-  private getPartialArchiveBytes(archivePath: string): number {
+  private async downloadModelFiles(
+    manifest: SpeechModelManifest,
+    stagingDir: string,
+    modelId: string,
+    isAborted: () => boolean,
+    signal: AbortSignal
+  ): Promise<void> {
+    if (!manifest.downloadFiles?.length || !manifest.sizeBytes) {
+      throw new Error(`Model download metadata missing: ${modelId}`)
+    }
+
+    let completedBytes = 0
+    for (const file of manifest.downloadFiles) {
+      if (
+        !file.name ||
+        file.name === '.' ||
+        file.name === '..' ||
+        file.name.includes('/') ||
+        file.name.includes('\\')
+      ) {
+        throw new Error(`Invalid model download filename: ${file.name}`)
+      }
+      const filePath = join(stagingDir, file.name)
+      await this.downloadFileWithRetry(
+        file.url,
+        filePath,
+        file.sizeBytes,
+        modelId,
+        isAborted,
+        signal,
+        completedBytes,
+        manifest.sizeBytes
+      )
+      if (isAborted()) {
+        return
+      }
+      await this.verifyFileSha256(filePath, file.sha256)
+      completedBytes += file.sizeBytes
+    }
+
+    if (!this.validateModelFiles(manifest, stagingDir)) {
+      throw new Error('Model files missing after download')
+    }
+  }
+
+  private getPartialDownloadBytes(filePath: string): number {
     try {
-      return statSync(archivePath).size
+      return statSync(filePath).size
     } catch {
       return 0
     }
   }
 
-  private async downloadArchiveWithRetry(
+  private async downloadFileWithRetry(
     url: string,
-    archivePath: string,
+    filePath: string,
     expectedSize: number,
     modelId: string,
     isAborted: () => boolean,
-    signal: AbortSignal
+    signal: AbortSignal,
+    completedBytes = 0,
+    modelTotalBytes = expectedSize
   ): Promise<void> {
     let requestCount = 0
     let noProgressStreak = 0
-    const totals: DownloadTotals = { totalBytes: expectedSize }
+    const totals: DownloadTotals = { totalBytes: expectedSize, completedBytes, modelTotalBytes }
     for (;;) {
       requestCount += 1
-      const offset = this.getPartialArchiveBytes(archivePath)
+      const offset = this.getPartialDownloadBytes(filePath)
       // Why: transport can fail after the last byte hits disk; the SHA-256 check is the real completion test.
       if (offset === totals.totalBytes) {
         return
@@ -459,7 +482,7 @@ export class ModelManager {
         // Why: restart from the canonical URL, not the last redirect, because signed CDN redirect URLs expire.
         await this.downloadFile(
           url,
-          archivePath,
+          filePath,
           expectedSize,
           modelId,
           isAborted,
@@ -468,7 +491,7 @@ export class ModelManager {
           offset,
           totals
         )
-        const receivedBytes = this.getPartialArchiveBytes(archivePath)
+        const receivedBytes = this.getPartialDownloadBytes(filePath)
         if (receivedBytes === totals.totalBytes) {
           return
         }
@@ -492,7 +515,7 @@ export class ModelManager {
         if (isAborted() || signal.aborted) {
           throw err
         }
-        const receivedBytes = this.getPartialArchiveBytes(archivePath)
+        const receivedBytes = this.getPartialDownloadBytes(filePath)
         if (receivedBytes === totals.totalBytes) {
           return
         }
@@ -666,7 +689,7 @@ export class ModelManager {
           (parsedLength <= 0 || parsedLength === contentRange.end - contentRange.start + 1)
 
         if (resumeOffset > 0 && response.statusCode === 206 && !resumed) {
-          // Why: appending an unverified range can silently corrupt the archive; discard and retry from byte zero.
+          // Why: appending an unverified range can silently corrupt the file; discard and retry from byte zero.
           try {
             rmSync(dest)
           } catch {
@@ -728,7 +751,11 @@ export class ModelManager {
             return
           }
           downloaded += chunk.length
-          const progress = Math.min(0.9, (progressBase + downloaded) / totalSize)
+          const progress = Math.min(
+            0.9,
+            ((totals?.completedBytes ?? 0) + progressBase + downloaded) /
+              (totals?.modelTotalBytes ?? totalSize)
+          )
           this.updateState(modelId, 'downloading', progress)
         }
 
@@ -765,10 +792,10 @@ export class ModelManager {
     })
   }
 
-  private verifyArchiveSha256(archivePath: string, expectedSha256: string): Promise<void> {
+  private verifyFileSha256(filePath: string, expectedSha256: string): Promise<void> {
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       const hash = createHash('sha256')
-      const stream = createReadStream(archivePath)
+      const stream = createReadStream(filePath)
       let settled = false
 
       const cleanup = (): void => {
@@ -801,8 +828,8 @@ export class ModelManager {
       const onEnd = (): void => {
         const actualSha256 = hash.digest('hex')
         if (actualSha256 !== expectedSha256.toLowerCase()) {
-          // Why: archives feed native parsers, so verify contents against compromised/redirected release assets.
-          settleReject(new Error('Downloaded model archive failed integrity verification'))
+          // Why: model artifacts feed native runtimes, so verify every downloaded file before installation.
+          settleReject(new Error('Downloaded model file failed integrity verification'))
           return
         }
         settleResolve()
@@ -814,125 +841,24 @@ export class ModelManager {
     })
   }
 
-  private extractArchive(
-    archivePath: string,
-    destDir: string,
-    modelId: string,
-    isAborted: () => boolean
-  ): Promise<void> {
-    const modelDir = join(destDir, modelId)
-    mkdirSync(modelDir, { recursive: true })
-
-    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-      // Why: spawn (not exec) so slow bzip2 stderr can't overflow exec's 1MB maxBuffer and silently kill the process.
-      const tarExecutable = resolveTarExecutable()
-      const child = spawn(
-        tarExecutable,
-        ['-xjf', archivePath, '-C', modelDir, '--strip-components=1'],
-        {
-          stdio: ['ignore', 'ignore', 'pipe'],
-          windowsHide: true
-        }
-      )
-
-      let stderr = ''
-      let settled = false
-      let timeout: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null = null
-      let abortPoll: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null = null
-      const cleanup = (): void => {
-        if (timeout) {
-          clearTimeout(timeout)
-          timeout = null
-        }
-        if (abortPoll) {
-          clearInterval(abortPoll)
-          abortPoll = null
-        }
-        child.stderr?.off('data', onStderrData)
-        child.off('close', onClose)
-        child.off('error', onError)
-      }
-      const fail = (error: Error, killChild = false): void => {
-        if (settled) {
-          return
-        }
-        settled = true
-        cleanup()
-        if (killChild) {
-          child.kill('SIGKILL')
-        }
-        reject(error)
-      }
-      const onStderrData = (chunk: Buffer): void => {
-        stderr += chunk.toString()
-      }
-      const onClose = (code: number | null): void => {
-        if (settled) {
-          return
-        }
-        settled = true
-        cleanup()
-        if (code === 0) {
-          resolve()
-        } else {
-          reject(new Error(`tar exited with code ${code}: ${stderr.slice(0, 500)}`))
-        }
-      }
-      const onError = (err: Error): void => {
-        fail(err)
-      }
-
-      child.stderr?.on('data', onStderrData)
-      timeout = setTimeout(() => {
-        fail(new Error('Extraction timed out after 10 minutes'), true)
-      }, 600_000)
-      abortPoll = setInterval(() => {
-        if (isAborted()) {
-          // Why: a wedged child may never emit close/error, so abort must kill it here.
-          fail(new Error('Aborted'), true)
-        }
-      }, 250)
-
-      child.on('close', onClose)
-      child.on('error', onError)
-    })
-  }
-
-  private async flattenNestedDir(modelDir: string, manifest: SpeechModelManifest): Promise<void> {
-    if (!manifest.files) {
-      return
-    }
-    const entries = await readdir(modelDir, { withFileTypes: true })
-    for (const entry of entries) {
-      if (entry.isDirectory()) {
-        const nestedDir = join(modelDir, entry.name)
-        const nestedFiles = await readdir(nestedDir)
-        const hasExpected = manifest.files.some((f) => nestedFiles.includes(f))
-        if (hasExpected) {
-          const { rename: fsRename } = await import('node:fs/promises')
-          for (const file of nestedFiles) {
-            await fsRename(join(nestedDir, file), join(modelDir, file))
-          }
-          await rm(nestedDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
-          return
-        }
+  private removeModelDownloadStaging(stagingDir: string, legacyArchivePath: string): void {
+    for (const path of [stagingDir, legacyArchivePath]) {
+      try {
+        rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true })
+      } catch {
+        // best-effort
       }
     }
   }
 
-  private cleanup(modelId: string, archivePath: string): void {
+  private removeModelDownloadFiles(
+    modelDir: string,
+    stagingDir: string,
+    legacyArchivePath: string
+  ): void {
+    this.removeModelDownloadStaging(stagingDir, legacyArchivePath)
     try {
-      if (existsSync(archivePath)) {
-        rmSync(archivePath)
-      }
-    } catch {
-      // best-effort
-    }
-    const modelDir = this.getModelDir(modelId)
-    try {
-      if (existsSync(modelDir)) {
-        rmSync(modelDir, { recursive: true })
-      }
+      rmSync(modelDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
     } catch {
       // best-effort
     }
diff --git a/src/main/speech/stt-worker-model-config.ts b/src/main/speech/stt-worker-model-config.ts
index de4687d9f..ff9382fe3 100644
--- a/src/main/speech/stt-worker-model-config.ts
+++ b/src/main/speech/stt-worker-model-config.ts
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ export function resolveTokens(files: string[], modelDir: string): string {
   return join(modelDir, match)
 }
 
-// Why: BPE models need a vocab file for hotwords token matching. The file
-// ships in the model archive but isn't listed in the manifest. We discover
-// it at runtime to avoid breaking existing downloads.
+// Why: BPE models need a vocab file for hotwords token matching, but older caches may omit it.
 function discoverBpeVocab(modelDir: string): string | undefined {
   try {
     const entries = readdirSync(modelDir)
diff --git a/src/main/speech/tar-executable.ts b/src/main/speech/tar-executable.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index d097eb1b8..000000000
--- a/src/main/speech/tar-executable.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
-import { win32 as pathWin32 } from 'node:path'
-
-export function resolveTarExecutable(
-  options: {
-    platform?: NodeJS.Platform
-    env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv
-    exists?: (path: string) => boolean
-  } = {}
-): string {
-  const platform = options.platform ?? process.platform
-  if (platform !== 'win32') {
-    return 'tar'
-  }
-
-  const env = options.env ?? process.env
-  const systemRoot = env.SystemRoot ?? env.WINDIR ?? 'C:\\Windows'
-  const candidate = pathWin32.join(systemRoot, 'System32', 'tar.exe')
-  const exists = options.exists ?? existsSync
-  if (exists(candidate)) {
-    return candidate
-  }
-
-  // Why: packaged Windows apps can have a stripped PATH. Use the OS tar
-  // location explicitly, and fail with a repairable error if it is absent.
-  throw new Error(`Windows tar.exe not found at ${candidate}`)
-}
diff --git a/src/shared/speech-types.ts b/src/shared/speech-types.ts
index 2d89bbb49..93e1989db 100644
--- a/src/shared/speech-types.ts
+++ b/src/shared/speech-types.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ export type SpeechModelProvider = 'local' | 'openai'
 
 export type ModelingUnit = 'bpe' | 'cjkchar' | 'cjkchar+bpe'
 
+export type SpeechModelDownloadFile = {
+  name: string
+  url: string
+  sizeBytes: number
+  sha256: string
+}
+
 export type SpeechModelManifest = {
   id: string
   label: string
@@ -17,9 +24,7 @@ export type SpeechModelManifest = {
   provider: SpeechModelProvider
   language: string
   sizeBytes?: number
-  downloadUrl?: string
-  archiveSha256?: string
-  archiveFormat?: 'tar.bz2'
+  downloadFiles?: SpeechModelDownloadFile[]
   files?: string[]
   sampleRate: number
   streaming: boolean