diff --git a/internal/recognition/classifier.go b/internal/recognition/classifier.go
index e448bf6..69ad659 100644
--- a/internal/recognition/classifier.go
+++ b/internal/recognition/classifier.go
@@ -395,9 +395,11 @@ func (c *HuggingFaceClassifier) ClassifyFromBytes(imageData []byte) (*Classifica
 	startTime := time.Now()
 	log.Infof("Starting image classification using HuggingFace model %s", c.Model)
 
-	// Encode image to base64
-	encoded := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(imageData)
-	log.Debugf("Encoded image size: %d bytes (base64: %d chars)", len(imageData), len(encoded))
+	log.Debugf("Image size: %d bytes", len(imageData))
+
+	// Detect image format for correct Content-Type header
+	contentType := detectImageFormat(imageData)
+	log.Debugf("Detected image format: %s", contentType)
 
 	// Build the API URL - HuggingFace Serverless Inference API
 	// Note: Some models may not be available on the free Serverless tier
@@ -410,7 +412,7 @@ func (c *HuggingFaceClassifier) ClassifyFromBytes(imageData []byte) (*Classifica
 	}
 
 	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+c.APIKey)
-	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", contentType)
 
 	// Make API request
 	log.Infof("Sending classification request to HuggingFace API...")
@@ -566,13 +568,16 @@ func (c *HuggingFaceClassifier) detectNSFWHF(imageData []byte) (float64, string,
 	nsfwModel := "Falconsai/nsfw_image_detection"
 	apiURL := fmt.Sprintf("https://api-inference.huggingface.co/models/%s", nsfwModel)
 
+	// Detect image format for correct Content-Type header
+	contentType := detectImageFormat(imageData)
+
 	req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", apiURL, bytes.NewReader(imageData))
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, "", fmt.Errorf("failed to create NSFW request: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+c.APIKey)
-	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/octet-stream")
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", contentType)
 
 	client := &http.Client{Timeout: c.Timeout}
 	resp, err := client.Do(req)
@@ -627,6 +632,33 @@ func (c *HuggingFaceClassifier) detectNSFWHF(imageData []byte) (float64, string,
 
 // Helper functions
 
+// detectImageFormat detects the image format from the binary data
+func detectImageFormat(data []byte) string {
+	if len(data) < 12 {
+		return "image/jpeg" // Default fallback
+	}
+
+	// Check magic bytes for different image formats
+	switch {
+	case data[0] == 0xFF && data[1] == 0xD8 && data[2] == 0xFF:
+		return "image/jpeg"
+	case data[0] == 0x89 && data[1] == 0x50 && data[2] == 0x4E && data[3] == 0x47:
+		return "image/png"
+	case data[0] == 0x47 && data[1] == 0x49 && data[2] == 0x46:
+		return "image/gif"
+	case data[0] == 0x52 && data[1] == 0x49 && data[2] == 0x46 && data[3] == 0x46 &&
+		data[8] == 0x57 && data[9] == 0x45 && data[10] == 0x42 && data[11] == 0x50:
+		return "image/webp"
+	case data[0] == 0x42 && data[1] == 0x4D:
+		return "image/bmp"
+	case (data[0] == 0x49 && data[1] == 0x49 && data[2] == 0x2A && data[3] == 0x00) ||
+		(data[0] == 0x4D && data[1] == 0x4D && data[2] == 0x00 && data[3] == 0x2A):
+		return "image/tiff"
+	default:
+		return "image/jpeg" // Default fallback
+	}
+}
+
 func isLikelyLabel(word string) bool {
 	// Common objects, simple heuristic
 	commonWords := map[string]bool{