diff --git a/.changes/upload-returnval.md b/.changes/upload-returnval.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30768d48b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/upload-returnval.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"upload": patch
+"upload-js": patch
+---
+
+Return the upload response as a string and error out if the status code is not within 200-299.
diff --git a/plugins/upload/guest-js/index.ts b/plugins/upload/guest-js/index.ts
index 08620f02c..619b0679f 100644
--- a/plugins/upload/guest-js/index.ts
+++ b/plugins/upload/guest-js/index.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ async function upload(
   filePath: string,
   progressHandler?: ProgressHandler,
   headers?: Map<string, string>,
-): Promise<void> {
+): Promise<string> {
   const ids = new Uint32Array(1);
   window.crypto.getRandomValues(ids);
   const id = ids[0];
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ async function upload(
 
   await listenToEventIfNeeded("upload://progress");
 
-  await invoke("plugin:upload|upload", {
+  return await invoke("plugin:upload|upload", {
     id,
     url,
     filePath,
diff --git a/plugins/upload/src/lib.rs b/plugins/upload/src/lib.rs
index 9d9966da2..d0336f782 100644
--- a/plugins/upload/src/lib.rs
+++ b/plugins/upload/src/lib.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ pub enum Error {
     Request(#[from] reqwest::Error),
     #[error("{0}")]
     ContentLength(String),
+    #[error("request failed with status code {0}: {1}")]
+    HttpErrorCode(u16, String),
 }
 
 impl Serialize for Error {
@@ -93,13 +95,17 @@ async fn upload<R: Runtime>(
     url: &str,
     file_path: &str,
     headers: HashMap<String, String>,
-) -> Result<serde_json::Value> {
+) -> Result<String> {
     // Read the file
     let file = File::open(file_path).await?;
+    let file_len = file.metadata().await.unwrap().len();
 
     // Create the request and attach the file to the body
     let client = reqwest::Client::new();
-    let mut request = client.post(url).body(file_to_body(id, window, file));
+    let mut request = client
+        .post(url)
+        .header(reqwest::header::CONTENT_LENGTH, file_len)
+        .body(file_to_body(id, window, file));
 
     // Loop trought the headers keys and values
     // and add them to the request object.
@@ -108,8 +114,14 @@ async fn upload<R: Runtime>(
     }
 
     let response = request.send().await?;
-
-    response.json().await.map_err(Into::into)
+    if response.status().is_success() {
+        response.text().await.map_err(Into::into)
+    } else {
+        Err(Error::HttpErrorCode(
+            response.status().as_u16(),
+            response.text().await.unwrap_or_default(),
+        ))
+    }
 }
 
 fn file_to_body<R: Runtime>(id: u32, window: Window<R>, file: File) -> reqwest::Body {