diff --git a/common/HTTPDownloader.cpp b/common/HTTPDownloader.cpp
index 846e98b620..205f80e6b2 100644
--- a/common/HTTPDownloader.cpp
+++ b/common/HTTPDownloader.cpp
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ void HTTPDownloader::LockedPollRequests(std::unique_lock<std::mutex>& lock)
 			m_pending_http_requests.erase(m_pending_http_requests.begin() + index);
 			lock.unlock();
 
-			req->callback(-1, std::string(), Request::Data());
+			req->callback(-1, req->content_type, Request::Data());
 
 			CloseRequest(req);
 
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ void HTTPDownloader::LockedPollRequests(std::unique_lock<std::mutex>& lock)
 
 		// run callback with lock unheld
 		lock.unlock();
-		req->callback(req->status_code, std::move(req->content_type), std::move(req->data));
+		req->callback(req->status_code, req->content_type, std::move(req->data));
 		CloseRequest(req);
 		lock.lock();
 	}
diff --git a/common/HTTPDownloader.h b/common/HTTPDownloader.h
index 1d4e3586cc..e8306c3474 100644
--- a/common/HTTPDownloader.h
+++ b/common/HTTPDownloader.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ namespace Common
 		struct Request
 		{
 			using Data = std::vector<u8>;
-			using Callback = std::function<void(s32 status_code, std::string content_type, Data data)>;
+			using Callback = std::function<void(s32 status_code, const std::string& content_type, Data data)>;
 
 			enum class Type
 			{
diff --git a/common/HTTPDownloaderWinHTTP.cpp b/common/HTTPDownloaderWinHTTP.cpp
index cb78d63264..36b6346115 100644
--- a/common/HTTPDownloaderWinHTTP.cpp
+++ b/common/HTTPDownloaderWinHTTP.cpp
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ bool HTTPDownloaderWinHttp::StartRequest(HTTPDownloader::Request* request)
 	if (!WinHttpCrackUrl(url_wide.c_str(), static_cast<DWORD>(url_wide.size()), 0, &uc))
 	{
 		Console.Error("WinHttpCrackUrl() failed: %u", GetLastError());
-		req->callback(-1, std::string(), Request::Data());
+		req->callback(-1, req->content_type, Request::Data());
 		delete req;
 		return false;
 	}
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ bool HTTPDownloaderWinHttp::StartRequest(HTTPDownloader::Request* request)
 	if (!req->hConnection)
 	{
 		Console.Error("Failed to start HTTP request for '%s': %u", req->url.c_str(), GetLastError());
-		req->callback(-1, std::string(), Request::Data());
+		req->callback(-1, req->content_type, Request::Data());
 		delete req;
 		return false;
 	}
diff --git a/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp b/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
index 14488571a3..90fda1d187 100644
--- a/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ bool GameList::DownloadCovers(const std::vector<std::string>& url_templates, boo
 		// we could actually do a few in parallel here...
 		std::string filename(Common::HTTPDownloader::URLDecode(url));
 		downloader->CreateRequest(std::move(url), [use_serial, &save_callback, entry_path = std::move(entry_path),
-			filename = std::move(filename)](s32 status_code, std::string content_type, Common::HTTPDownloader::Request::Data data) {
+			filename = std::move(filename)](s32 status_code, const std::string& content_type, Common::HTTPDownloader::Request::Data data) {
 			if (status_code != Common::HTTPDownloader::HTTP_OK || data.empty())
 				return;