diff --git a/cmd/cnbBuild.go b/cmd/cnbBuild.go
index 8090f1121f..cd4dac06b3 100644
--- a/cmd/cnbBuild.go
+++ b/cmd/cnbBuild.go
@@ -138,18 +138,12 @@ func isBuilder(utils cnbutils.BuildUtils) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func isZip(path string) bool {
+func verifyZip(path string) error {
 	r, err := zip.OpenReader(path)
-
-	switch {
-	case err == nil:
+	if err == nil {
 		_ = r.Close()
-		return true
-	case err == zip.ErrFormat:
-		return false
-	default:
-		return false
 	}
+	return err
 }
 
 func cleanDir(dir string, utils cnbutils.BuildUtils) error {
@@ -169,13 +163,14 @@ func cleanDir(dir string, utils cnbutils.BuildUtils) error {
 }
 
 func extractZip(source, target string) error {
-	if !isZip(source) {
+	err := verifyZip(source)
+	if err != nil {
 		log.SetErrorCategory(log.ErrorBuild)
-		return errors.New("application path must be a directory or zip")
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "'%s' is not a valid archive", source)
 	}
 
 	log.Entry().Infof("Extracting archive '%s' to '%s'", source, target)
-	_, err := piperutils.Unzip(source, target)
+	_, err = piperutils.Unzip(source, target)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.SetErrorCategory(log.ErrorBuild)
 		return errors.Wrapf(err, "Extracting archive '%s' to '%s' failed", source, target)
diff --git a/integration/integration_cnb_test.go b/integration/integration_cnb_test.go
index 41af1f130a..908e9c380e 100644
--- a/integration/integration_cnb_test.go
+++ b/integration/integration_cnb_test.go
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ func TestCNBIntegrationNonZipPath(t *testing.T) {
 	err := container.whenRunningPiperCommand("cnbBuild", "--noTelemetry", "--verbose", "--containerImageName", "not-found", "--containerImageTag", "0.0.1", "--containerRegistryUrl", registryURL, "--path", "mta.yaml")
 	assert.Error(t, err)
 
-	container.assertHasOutput(t, "Copying  '/project/mta.yaml' into '/workspace' failed: application path must be a directory or zip")
+	container.assertHasOutput(t, "Copying  '/project/mta.yaml' into '/workspace' failed: '/project/mta.yaml' is not a valid archive: zip: not a valid zip file")
 	container.terminate(t)
 }