diff --git a/src/apps.js b/src/apps.js
index 55777d38f..8676536d2 100644
--- a/src/apps.js
+++ b/src/apps.js
@@ -2455,70 +2455,74 @@ async function listEventlog(app, page, perPage) {
     return await eventlog.listPaged(actions, search, page, perPage);
 }
 
-function downloadFile(app, filePath, callback) {
-    assert.strictEqual(typeof app, 'object');
-    assert.strictEqual(typeof filePath, 'string');
-    assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
-
-    exec(app, { cmd: [ 'stat', '--printf=%F-%s', filePath ], tty: true }, function (error, stream) {
-        if (error) return callback(error);
-
-        var data = '';
+async function drainStream(stream) {
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        let data = '';
         stream.setEncoding('utf8');
+        stream.on('error', (error) => reject(new BoxError.FS_ERROR, error.message));
         stream.on('data', function (d) { data += d; });
         stream.on('end', function () {
-            var parts = data.split('-');
-            if (parts.length !== 2) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'file does not exist'));
-
-            var type = parts[0], filename, cmd, size;
-
-            if (type === 'regular file') {
-                cmd = [ 'cat', filePath ];
-                size = parseInt(parts[1], 10);
-                filename = path.basename(filePath);
-                if (isNaN(size)) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'file does not exist'));
-            } else if (type === 'directory') {
-                cmd = ['tar', 'zcf', '-', '-C', filePath, '.'];
-                filename = path.basename(filePath) + '.tar.gz';
-                size = 0; // unknown
-            } else {
-                return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'only files or dirs can be downloaded'));
-            }
-
-            exec(app, { cmd: cmd , tty: false }, function (error, stream) {
-                if (error) return callback(error);
-
-                var stdoutStream = new TransformStream({
-                    transform: function (chunk, ignoredEncoding, callback) {
-                        this._buffer = this._buffer ? Buffer.concat([this._buffer, chunk]) : chunk;
-
-                        for (;;) {
-                            if (this._buffer.length < 8) break; // header is 8 bytes
-
-                            var type = this._buffer.readUInt8(0);
-                            var len = this._buffer.readUInt32BE(4);
-
-                            if (this._buffer.length < (8 + len)) break; // not enough
-
-                            var payload = this._buffer.slice(8, 8 + len);
-
-                            this._buffer = this._buffer.slice(8+len); // consumed
-
-                            if (type === 1) this.push(payload);
-                        }
-
-                        callback();
-                    }
-                });
-
-                stream.pipe(stdoutStream);
-
-                callback(null, stdoutStream, { filename: filename, size: size });
-            });
+            resolve(data);
         });
     });
 }
 
+async function downloadFile(app, filePath) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof app, 'object');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof filePath, 'string');
+
+    const statStream = await exec(app, { cmd: [ 'stat', '--printf=%F-%s', filePath ], tty: true });
+    const data = await drainStream(statStream);
+
+    const parts = data.split('-');
+    if (parts.length !== 2) throw new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'file does not exist');
+
+    let type = parts[0], filename, cmd, size;
+
+    if (type === 'regular file') {
+        cmd = [ 'cat', filePath ];
+        size = parseInt(parts[1], 10);
+        filename = path.basename(filePath);
+        if (isNaN(size)) throw new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'file does not exist');
+    } else if (type === 'directory') {
+        cmd = ['tar', 'zcf', '-', '-C', filePath, '.'];
+        filename = path.basename(filePath) + '.tar.gz';
+        size = 0; // unknown
+    } else {
+        throw new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, 'only files or dirs can be downloaded');
+    }
+
+    const inputStream = await exec(app, { cmd, tty: false });
+
+    // transforms the docker stream into a normal stream
+    const stdoutStream = new TransformStream({
+        transform: function (chunk, ignoredEncoding, callback) {
+            this._buffer = this._buffer ? Buffer.concat([this._buffer, chunk]) : chunk;
+
+            for (;;) {
+                if (this._buffer.length < 8) break; // header is 8 bytes
+
+                var type = this._buffer.readUInt8(0);
+                var len = this._buffer.readUInt32BE(4);
+
+                if (this._buffer.length < (8 + len)) break; // not enough
+
+                var payload = this._buffer.slice(8, 8 + len);
+
+                this._buffer = this._buffer.slice(8+len); // consumed
+
+                if (type === 1) this.push(payload);
+            }
+
+            callback();
+        }
+    });
+
+    inputStream.pipe(stdoutStream);
+
+    return { stream: stdoutStream, filename, size };
+}
+
 async function uploadFile(app, sourceFilePath, destFilePath) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof app, 'object');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof sourceFilePath, 'string');
diff --git a/src/routes/apps.js b/src/routes/apps.js
index caf40df53..ffd82672b 100644
--- a/src/routes/apps.js
+++ b/src/routes/apps.js
@@ -798,26 +798,26 @@ async function uploadFile(req, res, next) {
     next(new HttpSuccess(202, {}));
 }
 
-function downloadFile(req, res, next) {
+async function downloadFile(req, res, next) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof req.app, 'object');
 
     if (typeof req.query.file !== 'string' || !req.query.file) return next(new HttpError(400, 'file query argument must be provided'));
 
     req.clearTimeout();
 
-    apps.downloadFile(req.app, req.query.file, function (error, stream, info) {
-        if (error) return next(BoxError.toHttpError(error));
+    const [error, result] = await safe(apps.downloadFile(req.app, req.query.file));
+    if (error) return next(BoxError.toHttpError(error));
 
-        var headers = {
-            'Content-Type': 'application/octet-stream',
-            'Content-Disposition': `attachment; filename*=utf-8''${encodeURIComponent(info.filename)}` // RFC 2184 section 4
-        };
-        if (info.size) headers['Content-Length'] = info.size;
+    const { stream, filename, size } = result;
+    const headers = {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/octet-stream',
+        'Content-Disposition': `attachment; filename*=utf-8''${encodeURIComponent(filename)}` // RFC 2184 section 4
+    };
+    if (size) headers['Content-Length'] = size;
 
-        res.writeHead(200, headers);
+    res.writeHead(200, headers);
 
-        stream.pipe(res);
-    });
+    stream.pipe(res);
 }
 
 async function setMounts(req, res, next) {