diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 8e90082b6..635024367 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ srsly>=2.4.3,<3.0.0
 catalogue>=2.0.6,<2.1.0
 typer>=0.3.0,<0.8.0
 cloudpathlib>=0.7.0,<0.11.0
+smart-open>=5.2.1,<7.0.0
 # Third party dependencies
 numpy>=1.15.0
 requests>=2.13.0,<3.0.0
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 79e10b08d..077e21402 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ install_requires =
     # Third-party dependencies
     typer>=0.3.0,<0.8.0
     cloudpathlib>=0.7.0,<0.11.0
+    smart-open>=5.2.1,<7.0.0
     tqdm>=4.38.0,<5.0.0
     numpy>=1.15.0
     requests>=2.13.0,<3.0.0
diff --git a/spacy/cli/_util.py b/spacy/cli/_util.py
index de403842c..0869ea807 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/_util.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/_util.py
@@ -359,11 +359,12 @@ def download_file(
     force (bool): Whether to force download even if file exists.
         If False, the download will be skipped.
     """
-    src = ensure_pathy(src)
+    import smart_open
 
     if dest.exists() and not force:
         return None
-    with src.open(mode="rb") as input_file:
+    src = str(src)
+    with smart_open.open(src, mode="rb", compression="disable") as input_file:
         with dest.open(mode="wb") as output_file:
             shutil.copyfileobj(input_file, output_file)