diff --git a/js/plugins/google-genai/src/googleai/gemini.ts b/js/plugins/google-genai/src/googleai/gemini.ts
index 775fa96871..38d5bf7d7a 100644
--- a/js/plugins/google-genai/src/googleai/gemini.ts
+++ b/js/plugins/google-genai/src/googleai/gemini.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ import {
   removeClientOptionOverrides,
 } from './utils.js';
 
+const MAX_INLINE_MEDIA_BYTES = 1024 * 1024 * 100; // 100 MB
+
 /**
  * See https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/safety-settings#safety-filters.
  */
@@ -576,11 +578,15 @@ export function defineModel(
 
   const middleware: ModelMiddleware[] = [];
   if (ref.info?.supports?.media) {
-    // the gemini api doesn't support downloading media from http(s)
+    // For Gemini 2.0, external URLs are not supported, so we must download.
+    // For newer models, we can pass the URL directly.
+    const supportsExternalUrls = !name.startsWith('gemini-2.0');
+
     middleware.push(
       downloadRequestMedia({
-        maxBytes: 1024 * 1024 * 10,
-        // don't downlaod files that have been uploaded using the Files API
+        maxBytes: MAX_INLINE_MEDIA_BYTES,
+        // don't download files that have been uploaded using the Files API
+        // or external URLs supported by the model
         filter: (part) => {
           try {
             const url = new URL(part.media.url);
@@ -594,6 +600,14 @@ export function defineModel(
               ].includes(url.hostname)
             )
               return false;
+
+            // If model supports external URLs, allow http/https URLs to pass through
+            if (
+              supportsExternalUrls &&
+              (url.protocol === 'https:' || url.protocol === 'http:')
+            ) {
+              return false;
+            }
           } catch {}
           return true;
         },
diff --git a/js/plugins/google-genai/tests/googleai/gemini_test.ts b/js/plugins/google-genai/tests/googleai/gemini_test.ts
index 9202feacea..bae64a681a 100644
--- a/js/plugins/google-genai/tests/googleai/gemini_test.ts
+++ b/js/plugins/google-genai/tests/googleai/gemini_test.ts
@@ -378,6 +378,56 @@ describe('Google AI Gemini', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    describe('Media Handling', () => {
+      const imageUrl = 'https://example.com/image.png';
+
+      it('passes external URLs for non-Gemini 2.0 models', async () => {
+        const model = defineModel(
+          'gemini-3-flash-preview',
+          defaultPluginOptions
+        );
+
+        fetchStub.callsFake(async (url: string | Request) => {
+          if (typeof url === 'string' && url === imageUrl) {
+            return new Response('image-data', {
+              headers: { 'Content-Type': 'image/png' },
+              status: 200,
+            });
+          }
+          return new Response(JSON.stringify(defaultApiResponse), {
+            status: 200,
+            headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+          });
+        });
+
+        const request: GenerateRequest<typeof GeminiConfigSchema> = {
+          messages: [
+            {
+              role: 'user',
+              content: [{ media: { url: imageUrl, contentType: 'image/png' } }],
+            },
+          ],
+        };
+
+        await model.run(request);
+
+        // Verify image was NOT downloaded
+        assert.ok(
+          !fetchStub.calledWith(imageUrl),
+          'Should NOT attempt to download image for Gemini 3.0'
+        );
+
+        // Verify API request contained fileData
+        const apiRequest: GenerateContentRequest = JSON.parse(
+          fetchStub.lastCall.args[1].body
+        );
+        const part = apiRequest.contents[0].parts[0];
+        assert.ok(part.fileData, 'Should be fileData');
+        assert.strictEqual(part.fileData?.mimeType, 'image/png');
+        assert.strictEqual(part.fileData?.fileUri, imageUrl);
+      });
+    });
+
     describe('Error Handling', () => {
       it('throws if no candidates are returned', async () => {
         const model = defineModel('gemini-2.0-flash', defaultPluginOptions);
diff --git a/js/testapps/basic-gemini/src/index.ts b/js/testapps/basic-gemini/src/index.ts
index 40246ef2b9..1c5e8fb8da 100644
--- a/js/testapps/basic-gemini/src/index.ts
+++ b/js/testapps/basic-gemini/src/index.ts
@@ -745,3 +745,37 @@ async function downloadVideo(video: MediaPart, path: string) {
 
   Readable.from(videoDownloadResponse.body).pipe(fs.createWriteStream(path));
 }
+
+// Test external URL with Gemini 2.0 (should download and inline)
+ai.defineFlow('external-url-gemini-2.0', async () => {
+  const { text } = await ai.generate({
+    model: googleAI.model('gemini-2.0-flash'),
+    prompt: [
+      { text: 'Describe this image.' },
+      {
+        media: {
+          url: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/generativeai-downloads/images/scones.jpg',
+          contentType: 'image/jpeg',
+        },
+      },
+    ],
+  });
+  return text;
+});
+
+// Test external URL with Gemini 3.0 (should pass as fileUri)
+ai.defineFlow('external-url-gemini-3.0', async () => {
+  const { text } = await ai.generate({
+    model: googleAI.model('gemini-3-flash-preview'),
+    prompt: [
+      { text: 'Describe this image.' },
+      {
+        media: {
+          url: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/generativeai-downloads/images/scones.jpg',
+          contentType: 'image/jpeg',
+        },
+      },
+    ],
+  });
+  return text;
+});