diff --git a/src/engine/audio.py b/src/engine/audio.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf650800
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/engine/audio.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+"""Audio helpers shared by the speech engines."""
+
+
+class AudioDecodeError(ValueError):
+    """The request carried audio that cannot be decoded: a client error, not a model failure."""
diff --git a/src/engine/openvino/qwen3_asr/qwen3_asr_utils.py b/src/engine/openvino/qwen3_asr/qwen3_asr_utils.py
index c60c3e1d..6f89f559 100644
--- a/src/engine/openvino/qwen3_asr/qwen3_asr_utils.py
+++ b/src/engine/openvino/qwen3_asr/qwen3_asr_utils.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 import soundfile as sf
 
+from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
+
 AudioLike = Union[
     str,                      # wav path / URL / base64
     Tuple[np.ndarray, int],   # (waveform, sr)
@@ -198,6 +200,15 @@ def decode_base64_bytes(b64: str) -> bytes:
 
 
 def load_audio_any(x: str) -> Tuple[np.ndarray, int]:
+    try:
+        return _load_audio_any(x)
+    except AudioDecodeError:
+        raise
+    except Exception as e:
+        raise AudioDecodeError(f"Unreadable audio: {e}") from e
+
+
+def _load_audio_any(x: str) -> Tuple[np.ndarray, int]:
     if is_url(x):
         with urllib.request.urlopen(x) as resp:
             audio_bytes = resp.read()
diff --git a/src/engine/ov_genai/whisper.py b/src/engine/ov_genai/whisper.py
index db5814c5..b12af9ff 100644
--- a/src/engine/ov_genai/whisper.py
+++ b/src/engine/ov_genai/whisper.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 from openvino_genai import WhisperPipeline
 
+from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
 from src.server.model_registry import ModelRegistry
 from src.server.schemas.registration import ModelLoadConfig
 from src.server.schemas.modeling.contract_whisper import OVGenAI_WhisperGenConfig
@@ -31,7 +32,10 @@ def prepare_audio(self, gen_config: OVGenAI_WhisperGenConfig) -> list[float]:
         
         audio_buffer = io.BytesIO(audio_bytes)
         
-        audio, sr = librosa.load(audio_buffer, sr=16000, mono=True)
+        try:
+            audio, sr = librosa.load(audio_buffer, sr=16000, mono=True)
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise AudioDecodeError(f"Unreadable audio: {e}") from e
 
         return audio.astype(np.float32).tolist()
 
diff --git a/src/server/worker_registry.py b/src/server/worker_registry.py
index 37de820f..f13638e9 100644
--- a/src/server/worker_registry.py
+++ b/src/server/worker_registry.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from src.engine.ov_genai.llm import OVGenAI_LLM
 from src.engine.ov_genai.vlm import OVGenAI_VLM
 from src.engine.ov_genai.whisper import OVGenAI_Whisper
+from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
 from src.engine.openvino.kokoro import OV_Kokoro
 from src.engine.openvino.qwen3_asr.qwen3_asr import OVQwen3ASR
 from src.engine.openvino.qwen3_tts.qwen3_tts import OVQwen3TTS
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@ class WorkerPacket:
     response: Optional[str] = None
     metrics: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None
     segments: Optional[List[Dict[str, Any]]] = None
+    # A bad request (e.g. undecodable audio): fail this request, keep the model loaded.
+    request_error: Optional[BaseException] = None
     # Orchestration plumbing
     result_future: Optional[asyncio.Future] = None
     stream_queue: Optional[asyncio.Queue] = None
@@ -96,6 +99,10 @@ def _commit_completed_packet(
     registry: ModelRegistry,
 ) -> bool:
     """Complete the request future. Return True if the worker should exit."""
+    if completed.request_error is not None:
+        if packet.result_future is not None and not packet.result_future.done():
+            packet.result_future.set_exception(completed.request_error)
+        return False
     if completed.error is not None:
         logger.error(
             f"[{model_name}] Inference failed, triggering model unload..."
@@ -214,6 +221,9 @@ async def infer_whisper(packet: WorkerPacket, whisper_model: OVGenAI_Whisper) ->
 
             packet.response = final_text
             packet.metrics = metrics
+        except AudioDecodeError as e:
+            logger.warning(f"Whisper request rejected: {e}")
+            packet.request_error = e
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error("Whisper inference failed!", exc_info=True)
             _mark_inference_error(packet, e)
@@ -228,6 +238,9 @@ async def infer_qwen3_asr(packet: WorkerPacket, asr_model: OVQwen3ASR) -> Worker
         try:
             assert isinstance(packet.gen_config, OV_Qwen3ASRGenConfig), "Expected OV_Qwen3ASRGenConfig for Qwen3 ASR inference"
             packet.response, packet.metrics, packet.segments = await asr_model.transcribe(packet.gen_config)
+        except AudioDecodeError as e:
+            logger.warning(f"Qwen3 ASR request rejected: {e}")
+            packet.request_error = e
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error("Qwen3 ASR inference failed!", exc_info=True)
             _mark_inference_error(packet, e)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_audio_bad_input_unit.py b/tests/unit/test_audio_bad_input_unit.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b823e80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_audio_bad_input_unit.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import base64
+
+import pytest  # type: ignore[import]
+
+from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
+from src.engine.openvino.qwen3_asr.qwen3_asr_utils import load_audio_any
+
+
+def test_qwen3_load_audio_rejects_garbage_base64() -> None:
+    with pytest.raises(AudioDecodeError, match="Unreadable audio"):
+        load_audio_any(base64.b64encode(b"not audio" * 100).decode())
+
+
+def test_decode_error_is_a_value_error() -> None:
+    # routes map ValueError to HTTP 400
+    assert issubclass(AudioDecodeError, ValueError)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_ov_genai_whisper_unit.py b/tests/unit/test_ov_genai_whisper_unit.py
index ff2d2f41..155caede 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_ov_genai_whisper_unit.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_ov_genai_whisper_unit.py
@@ -152,3 +152,10 @@ def test_unload_model_resets_state(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, load_config:
     registry.register_unload.assert_called_once_with("model-name")
     gc_mock.assert_called_once()
 
+
+def test_prepare_audio_rejects_garbage(load_config: ModelLoadConfig) -> None:
+    from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
+
+    whisper = OVGenAI_Whisper(load_config)
+    with pytest.raises(AudioDecodeError, match="Unreadable audio"):
+        whisper.prepare_audio(OVGenAI_WhisperGenConfig(audio_base64=base64.b64encode(b"not audio" * 100).decode()))
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_worker_registry_unit.py b/tests/unit/test_worker_registry_unit.py
index b4c874ba..6333a666 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_worker_registry_unit.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_worker_registry_unit.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import asyncio
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
 
 import pytest  # type: ignore[import]
 
@@ -404,6 +405,44 @@ def test_missing_model_queue(worker_registry: worker_module.WorkerRegistry) -> N
 
 
 
+def test_undecodable_audio_fails_whisper_and_qwen3_requests_not_models() -> None:
+    from src.engine.audio import AudioDecodeError
+
+    class BadWhisper:
+        async def transcribe(self, cfg):
+            raise AudioDecodeError("Unreadable audio: nope")
+            yield  # pragma: no cover
+
+    class BadQwen3:
+        async def transcribe(self, cfg):
+            raise AudioDecodeError("Unreadable audio: nope")
+
+    w = worker_module.WorkerPacket(request_id="w", id_model="whisper", gen_config=OVGenAI_WhisperGenConfig(audio_base64="AAA"))
+    done = asyncio.run(worker_module.InferWorker.infer_whisper(w, BadWhisper()))  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    assert done.error is None and isinstance(done.request_error, AudioDecodeError)
+
+    q = worker_module.WorkerPacket(request_id="q", id_model="qwen3", gen_config=OV_Qwen3ASRGenConfig(audio_base64="AAA"))
+    done = asyncio.run(worker_module.InferWorker.infer_qwen3_asr(q, BadQwen3()))  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    assert done.error is None and isinstance(done.request_error, AudioDecodeError)
+
+
+def test_commit_request_error_fails_future_and_keeps_worker() -> None:
+    async def _run():
+        registry = MagicMock()
+        registry.register_unload = AsyncMock()
+        fut = asyncio.get_running_loop().create_future()
+        packet = worker_module.WorkerPacket(request_id="r", id_model="m", gen_config=OVGenAI_WhisperGenConfig(audio_base64="AAA"),
+                                            result_future=fut)
+        packet.request_error = ValueError("bad audio")
+        exit_worker = worker_module._commit_completed_packet(packet, packet, "m", registry)
+        await asyncio.sleep(0)
+        return exit_worker, fut, registry
+
+    exit_worker, fut, registry = asyncio.run(_run())
+    assert exit_worker is False
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="bad audio"):
+        fut.result()
+    registry.register_unload.assert_not_called()
 def test_infer_kokoro_stream_puts_pcm_per_chunk_then_none() -> None:
     import numpy as np
     import torch