diff --git a/llmfoundry/utils/data_prep_utils.py b/llmfoundry/utils/data_prep_utils.py
index b5b606a57f..9601e8618e 100644
--- a/llmfoundry/utils/data_prep_utils.py
+++ b/llmfoundry/utils/data_prep_utils.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 from typing import List, Optional
 
 from composer.utils import ObjectStore
+from composer.utils.object_store import ObjectStoreTransientError
+from composer.utils.retrying import retry
 
 __all__ = [
     'merge_shard_groups',
@@ -78,6 +80,26 @@ def merge_shard_groups(root: str) -> None:
         out.write(text)
 
 
+@retry(ObjectStoreTransientError, num_attempts=5)
+def download_file(
+    object_store: ObjectStore,
+    object_name: str,
+    output_filename: str,
+) -> None:
+    """Downloads a file from an object store.
+
+    Args:
+        object_store (ObjectStore): Object store to download from
+        object_name (str): Name of object to download
+        output_filename (str): Local filename to write to
+    """
+    object_store.download_object(
+        object_name=object_name,
+        filename=output_filename,
+        overwrite=True,
+    )
+
+
 class DownloadingIterable:
 
     def __init__(
@@ -110,10 +132,11 @@ def __iter__(self):
                     self.output_folder,
                     object_name.strip('/'),
                 )
-                self.object_store.download_object(
+
+                download_file(
+                    object_store=self.object_store,
                     object_name=object_name,
-                    filename=output_filename,
-                    overwrite=True,
+                    output_filename=output_filename,
                 )
 
             with open(output_filename) as _txt_file:
diff --git a/scripts/data_prep/convert_text_to_mds.py b/scripts/data_prep/convert_text_to_mds.py
index 1e36a681f9..98e9843570 100644
--- a/scripts/data_prep/convert_text_to_mds.py
+++ b/scripts/data_prep/convert_text_to_mds.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from llmfoundry.utils import maybe_create_mosaicml_logger
 from llmfoundry.utils.data_prep_utils import (
     DownloadingIterable,
+    download_file,
     merge_shard_groups,
 )
 from llmfoundry.utils.exceptions import (
@@ -329,9 +330,13 @@ def is_already_processed(
         try:
             with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
                 done_file = os.path.join(tmp_dir, DONE_FILENAME)
-                output_object_store.download_object(
-                    os.path.join(output_folder_prefix, DONE_FILENAME),
-                    done_file,
+                download_file(
+                    object_store=output_object_store,
+                    object_name=os.path.join(
+                        output_folder_prefix,
+                        DONE_FILENAME,
+                    ),
+                    output_filename=done_file,
                 )
                 with open(done_file) as df:
                     done_file_contents = df.read().splitlines()