diff --git a/aioaws/s3.py b/aioaws/s3.py
index cba8355..3b0c0e5 100644
--- a/aioaws/s3.py
+++ b/aioaws/s3.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from pydantic import BaseModel, validator
 
 from ._utils import ManyTasks, pretty_xml, utcnow
-from .core import AwsClient
+from .core import AwsClient, RequestError
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from ._types import S3ConfigProtocol
@@ -159,6 +159,19 @@ def signed_download_url(self, path: str, version: Optional[str] = None, max_age:
             url = url.copy_add_param('v', version)
         return str(url)
 
+    async def download(self, file: Union[str, S3File], version: Optional[str] = None) -> bytes:
+        if isinstance(file, str):
+            path = file
+        else:
+            path = file.key
+
+        url = self.signed_download_url(path, version=version)
+        r = await self._aws_client.client.get(url)
+        if r.status_code == 200:
+            return r.content
+        else:
+            raise RequestError(r)
+
     def signed_upload_url(
         self,
         *,
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index bf9c27c..f127187 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def _merge_url(self, url):
 
         new_url = url.copy_with(scheme=self.scheme, host=self.host, port=self.port)
         if 's3.' in url.host:
-            return new_url.copy_with(path='/s3/')
+            return new_url.copy_with(path=f'/s3{new_url.path}')
         elif 'email.' in url.host:
             return new_url.copy_with(path='/ses/')
         elif url.host.startswith('sns.'):
diff --git a/tests/dummy_server.py b/tests/dummy_server.py
index 7856c35..ec0c973 100644
--- a/tests/dummy_server.py
+++ b/tests/dummy_server.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 import re
-from io import BytesIO
 from typing import List
 from xml.etree import ElementTree
 
 from aiohttp import web
 from aiohttp.web_response import Response
-from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
 
 from aioaws.testing import ses_email_data, ses_send_response
 
@@ -70,13 +68,8 @@ async def s3_root(request: web.Request):
     return Response(body=body, content_type='text/xml')
 
 
-async def s3_demo_image(request):
-    width, height = 2000, 1200
-    stream = BytesIO()
-    image = Image.new('RGB', (width, height), (50, 100, 150))
-    ImageDraw.Draw(image).line((0, 0) + image.size, fill=128)
-    image.save(stream, format='JPEG', optimize=True)
-    return Response(body=stream.getvalue())
+async def s3_file(request: web.Request):
+    return Response(body='this is demo file content')
 
 
 async def ses_send(request):
@@ -130,7 +123,7 @@ async def xml_error(request):
 
 routes = [
     web.route('*', '/s3/', s3_root),
-    web.get('/s3_demo_image_url/{image:.*}', s3_demo_image),
+    web.get('/s3/testing.txt', s3_file),
     web.post('/ses/', ses_send),
     web.get('/sns/certs/', aws_certs),
     web.get('/xml-error/', xml_error),
diff --git a/tests/requirements.txt b/tests/requirements.txt
index 504eeb1..506b560 100644
--- a/tests/requirements.txt
+++ b/tests/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 aiohttp==3.8.3
 foxglove-web==0.0.36
-pillow==9.4.0
 coverage==7.0.4
 dirty-equals==0.5.0
 pytest==7.2.0
diff --git a/tests/test_s3.py b/tests/test_s3.py
index d6115ce..e383a61 100644
--- a/tests/test_s3.py
+++ b/tests/test_s3.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
 import pytest
-from dirty_equals import IsNow
+from dirty_equals import IsNow, IsStr
 from foxglove.test_server import DummyServer
 from httpx import AsyncClient
 
@@ -135,6 +135,30 @@ async def test_list_delete_many(client: AsyncClient, aws: DummyServer):
     ]
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_download_ok(client: AsyncClient, aws: DummyServer):
+    s3 = S3Client(client, S3Config('testing', 'testing', 'testing', 'testing'))
+    content = await s3.download('testing.txt')
+    assert content == b'this is demo file content'
+    assert aws.log == [IsStr(regex=r'GET /s3/testing\.txt\?.+ > 200')]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_download_ok_file(client: AsyncClient, aws: DummyServer):
+    s3 = S3Client(client, S3Config('testing', 'testing', 'testing', 'testing'))
+    content = await s3.download(S3File(Key='testing.txt', LastModified=0, Size=1, ETag='x', StorageClass='x'))
+    assert content == b'this is demo file content'
+    assert aws.log == [IsStr(regex=r'GET /s3/testing\.txt\?.+ > 200')]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_download_error(client: AsyncClient, aws: DummyServer):
+    s3 = S3Client(client, S3Config('testing', 'testing', 'testing', 'testing'))
+    with pytest.raises(RequestError):
+        await s3.download('missing.txt')
+    assert aws.log == [IsStr(regex=r'GET /s3/missing\.txt\?.+ > 404')]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_list_bad(client: AsyncClient):
     s3 = S3Client(client, S3Config('testing', 'testing', 'testing', 'testing'))