diff --git a/src/openpi/shared/download.py b/src/openpi/shared/download.py
index 8868825d80..2276507e6e 100644
--- a/src/openpi/shared/download.py
+++ b/src/openpi/shared/download.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import re
 import shutil
 import stat
+import subprocess
 import time
 import urllib.parse
 
@@ -83,7 +84,12 @@ def maybe_download(url: str, *, force_download: bool = False, **kwargs) -> pathl
             # Download the data to a local cache.
             logger.info(f"Downloading {url} to {local_path}")
             scratch_path = local_path.with_suffix(".partial")
-            _download_fsspec(url, scratch_path, **kwargs)
+            # Route openpi-assets through gsutil to avoid gcsfs auth issues with this bucket.
+            # All other gs:// URLs (e.g. big_vision) continue to use gcsfs as normal.
+            if parsed.scheme == "gs" and parsed.netloc == "openpi-assets":
+                _download_gsutil(url, scratch_path, **kwargs)
+            else:
+                _download_fsspec(url, scratch_path, **kwargs)
 
             shutil.move(scratch_path, local_path)
             _ensure_permissions(local_path)
@@ -98,6 +104,21 @@ def maybe_download(url: str, *, force_download: bool = False, **kwargs) -> pathl
     return local_path
 
 
+def _download_gsutil(url: str, local_path: pathlib.Path, **kwargs) -> None:
+    """Download a file or directory from GCS using gsutil if available, otherwise fall back to gcsfs."""
+    if shutil.which("gsutil") is None:
+        logger.warning(
+            "gsutil not found, falling back to gcsfs. This may fail if GCP credentials are not configured correctly."
+        )
+        _download_fsspec(url, local_path, **kwargs)
+        return
+    local_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["gsutil", "-m", "cp", "-r", f"{url}/*", str(local_path)],
+        check=True,
+    )
+
+
 def _download_fsspec(url: str, local_path: pathlib.Path, **kwargs) -> None:
     """Download a file from a remote filesystem to the local cache, and return the local path."""
     fs, _ = fsspec.core.url_to_fs(url, **kwargs)