diff --git a/workflow/artifacts/http/http.go b/workflow/artifacts/http/http.go
index ed2c300b116e..4c8578be1202 100644
--- a/workflow/artifacts/http/http.go
+++ b/workflow/artifacts/http/http.go
@@ -21,29 +21,22 @@ type ArtifactDriver struct {
 
 var _ common.ArtifactDriver = &ArtifactDriver{}
 
-// Load reads the artifact from the HTTP URL
-func (h *ArtifactDriver) Load(inputArtifact *wfv1.Artifact, path string) error {
-	lf, err := os.Create(path)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer func() {
-		_ = lf.Close()
-	}()
+func (h *ArtifactDriver) retrieveContent(inputArtifact *wfv1.Artifact) (http.Response, error) {
 	var req *http.Request
 	var url string
+	var err error
 	if inputArtifact.Artifactory != nil && inputArtifact.HTTP == nil {
 		url = inputArtifact.Artifactory.URL
 		req, err = http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return http.Response{}, err
 		}
 		req.SetBasicAuth(h.Username, h.Password)
-	} else {
+	} else if inputArtifact.Artifactory == nil && inputArtifact.HTTP != nil {
 		url = inputArtifact.HTTP.URL
 		req, err = http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return http.Response{}, err
 		}
 		for _, h := range inputArtifact.HTTP.Headers {
 			req.Header.Add(h.Name, h.Value)
@@ -51,30 +44,51 @@ func (h *ArtifactDriver) Load(inputArtifact *wfv1.Artifact, path string) error {
 		if h.Username != "" && h.Password != "" {
 			req.SetBasicAuth(h.Username, h.Password)
 		}
+	} else {
+		return http.Response{}, errors.InternalErrorf("Either Artifactory or HTTP artifact needs to be configured")
 	}
 
-	res, err := h.Client.Do(req)
+	// Note that we will close the response body in either `Load()`
+	// or `ArtifactServer.returnArtifact()`, which is the caller of `OpenStream()`.
+	res, err := h.Client.Do(req) //nolint:bodyclose
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return http.Response{}, err
 	}
-	defer func() {
-		_ = res.Body.Close()
-	}()
 	if res.StatusCode == 404 {
-		return errors.New(errors.CodeNotFound, res.Status)
+		return http.Response{}, errors.New(errors.CodeNotFound, res.Status)
 	}
 	if res.StatusCode < 200 || res.StatusCode >= 300 {
-		return errors.InternalErrorf("loading file from %s failed with reason: %s", url, res.Status)
+		return http.Response{}, errors.InternalErrorf("loading content from %s failed with reason: %s", url, res.Status)
 	}
+	return *res, nil
+}
 
+// Load reads the artifact from the HTTP URL
+func (h *ArtifactDriver) Load(inputArtifact *wfv1.Artifact, path string) error {
+	lf, err := os.Create(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		_ = lf.Close()
+	}()
+	res, err := h.retrieveContent(inputArtifact)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		_ = res.Body.Close()
+	}()
 	_, err = io.Copy(lf, res.Body)
-
 	return err
 }
 
-func (h *ArtifactDriver) OpenStream(a *wfv1.Artifact) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
-	// todo: this is a temporary implementation which loads file to disk first
-	return common.LoadToStream(a, h)
+func (h *ArtifactDriver) OpenStream(inputArtifact *wfv1.Artifact) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
+	res, err := h.retrieveContent(inputArtifact)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return res.Body, nil
 }
 
 // Save writes the artifact to the URL