diff --git a/features/core-download.feature b/features/core-download.feature
index 1c5b6ad0..154eb897 100644
--- a/features/core-download.feature
+++ b/features/core-download.feature
@@ -556,3 +556,40 @@ Feature: Download WordPress
       Success:
       """
 
+  Scenario: Extracts provided tar.gz files
+    Given an empty directory
+
+    When I run `wp core download https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-7.0.tar.gz --force`
+    Then the {RUN_DIR} directory should contain:
+      """
+      index.php
+      license.txt
+      """
+
+  Scenario: Extracts provided zip files
+    Given an empty directory
+
+    When I run `wp core download https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-7.0.zip --force`
+    Then the {RUN_DIR} directory should contain:
+      """
+      index.php
+      license.txt
+      """
+
+  Scenario: Error when downloading an unsupported archive format
+    Given an empty directory
+    And that HTTP requests to http://example.com/unsupported.txt will respond with:
+      """
+      HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+      Content-Type: text/plain
+
+      This is not a zip or tarball file.
+      """
+
+    When I try `wp core download http://example.com/unsupported.txt --force`
+    Then STDERR should contain:
+      """
+      Error: Unsupported archive format. The downloaded file is not a valid zip or tar.gz archive.
+      """
+    And the return code should be 1
+
diff --git a/src/Core_Command.php b/src/Core_Command.php
index 25003af9..454d8ce7 100644
--- a/src/Core_Command.php
+++ b/src/Core_Command.php
@@ -297,11 +297,11 @@ public function download( $args, $assoc_args ) {
 		}
 
 		if ( ! $cache_file || $bad_cache ) {
-			$temp = Utils\get_temp_dir() . uniqid( 'wp_' ) . ".{$extension}";
+			$temp = Utils\get_temp_dir() . uniqid( 'wp_' ) . '.tmp';
 			register_shutdown_function(
-				function () use ( $temp ) {
+				function () use ( &$temp ) {
 					if ( file_exists( $temp ) ) {
-						unlink( $temp );
+						@unlink( $temp );
 					}
 				}
 			);
@@ -322,6 +322,69 @@ function () use ( $temp ) {
 				WP_CLI::error( "Couldn't access download URL (HTTP code {$response->status_code})." );
 			}
 
+			if ( ! file_exists( $temp ) || ! is_readable( $temp ) ) {
+				WP_CLI::error( "Downloaded file could not be written to or read from disk: {$temp}" );
+			}
+
+			$extension = '';
+			$mime      = function_exists( 'mime_content_type' ) ? mime_content_type( $temp ) : '';
+			if ( 'application/zip' === $mime || 'application/x-zip-compressed' === $mime ) {
+				$extension = 'zip';
+			} elseif ( 'application/x-gzip' === $mime || 'application/gzip' === $mime ) {
+				$extension = 'tar.gz';
+			} else {
+				// Fallback to magic bytes.
+				$handle = @fopen( $temp, 'rb' );
+				if ( $handle ) {
+					$bytes = fread( $handle, 2 );
+					fclose( $handle );
+					if ( 'PK' === $bytes ) {
+						$extension = 'zip';
+					} elseif ( "\x1f\x8b" === $bytes ) {
+						$extension = 'tar.gz';
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			// Deep validation for tar.gz archives: verify it's a valid, readable gzip stream.
+			if ( 'tar.gz' === $extension && function_exists( 'gzopen' ) ) {
+				// phpcs:ignore WordPress.PHP.NoSilencedErrors.Discouraged -- Silence potential gzopen warnings on corrupt streams.
+				$gz = @gzopen( $temp, 'rb' );
+				if ( $gz ) {
+					$header = gzread( $gz, 262 );
+					gzclose( $gz );
+					if ( ! is_string( $header ) || strlen( $header ) < 1 ) {
+						$extension = '';
+					}
+				} else {
+					$extension = '';
+				}
+			}
+
+			if ( ! in_array( $extension, [ 'zip', 'tar.gz' ], true ) ) {
+				WP_CLI::error( 'Unsupported archive format. The downloaded file is not a valid zip or tar.gz archive.' );
+			}
+
+			$actual_temp = substr( $temp, 0, -4 ) . ".{$extension}";
+			if ( ! rename( $temp, $actual_temp ) ) {
+				// Fallback to copy + unlink.
+				if ( copy( $temp, $actual_temp ) ) {
+					$old_temp = $temp;
+					$temp     = $actual_temp;
+					if ( ! unlink( $old_temp ) ) {
+						register_shutdown_function(
+							function () use ( $old_temp ) {
+								if ( file_exists( $old_temp ) ) {
+									unlink( $old_temp );
+								}
+							}
+						);
+					}
+				}
+			} else {
+				$temp = $actual_temp;
+			}
+
 			if ( 'nightly' !== $version ) {
 				unset( $options['filename'] );
 				/** @var \WpOrg\Requests\Response $md5_response */