diff --git a/src/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/AVOut/FFmpegDownloaderForm.cs b/src/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/AVOut/FFmpegDownloaderForm.cs
index 65c4035f96..d11feae8c5 100644
--- a/src/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/AVOut/FFmpegDownloaderForm.cs
+++ b/src/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/AVOut/FFmpegDownloaderForm.cs
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 
 			try
 			{
+				DirectoryInfo parentDir = new(Path.GetDirectoryName(FFmpegService.FFmpegPath)!);
+				if (!parentDir.Exists) parentDir.Create();
+				using var fs = File.Create(FFmpegService.FFmpegPath); // check writable before bothering with the download
 				using (var evt = new ManualResetEvent(false))
 				{
 					using (var client = new System.Net.WebClient())
@@ -83,15 +86,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 				{
 					using (var exe = OSTailoredCode.IsUnixHost ? hf.BindArchiveMember("ffmpeg") : hf.BindFirstOf(".exe"))
 					{
-						var data = exe!.ReadAllBytes();
-
 						//last chance. exiting, don't dump the new ffmpeg file
 						if (exiting)
 							return;
-
-						DirectoryInfo parentDir = new(Path.GetDirectoryName(FFmpegService.FFmpegPath)!);
-						if (!parentDir.Exists) parentDir.Create();
-						File.WriteAllBytes(FFmpegService.FFmpegPath, data);
+						exe!.GetStream().CopyTo(fs);
+						fs.Dispose();
 						if (OSTailoredCode.IsUnixHost)
 						{
 							OSTailoredCode.ConstructSubshell("chmod", $"+x {FFmpegService.FFmpegPath}", checkStdout: false).Start();