# Error 400: file doesn't exist when using for fine-tuning

**URL:** <https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064>\
**Category:** API\
**Tags:** fine-tuning\
**Created:** [July 7, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064 "2025-07-07T22:43:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aashrivastava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@aashrivastava](https://community.openai.com/u/aashrivastava)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064/1 "2025-07-07T22:43:36Z")

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I am trying to fine-tune a model. I have uploaded my training file using `client.files.create`, and I know it is ready by both looking at the web interface and by verifying that `client.files.retrieve` works with the appropriate file id. I ensured that the purpose is “fine-tune” and that the file is processed.

Here is the error message:  
`openai.BadRequestError: Error code: 400 - {'error': {'message': 'file-HWtoJhNZFvZGETjggffag2 does not exist', 'type': 'invalid_request_error', 'param': None, 'code': None}}`

Does anyone have any fixes for this/has experienced this before?

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**Author:** ![edmaroferreira](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/edmaroferreira/32/10776_2.png) [@edmaroferreira](https://community.openai.com/u/edmaroferreira)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064/2 "2025-07-07T22:56:36Z")

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I’m getting the same error on the API  
I also tried on the openai web interface, same error.  
I also tried using sample files, same error.  
I also tried creating a new project, same error.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aashrivastava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@aashrivastava](https://community.openai.com/u/aashrivastava)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064/3 "2025-07-07T23:03:53Z")

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> [@edmaroferreira](#):
>
> I also tried on the openai web interface, same error.

Good to hear it’s not just me. Hopefully someone has found a fix.

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**Author:** ![William\_Lane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/william_lane/32/512638_2.png) [@William\_Lane](https://community.openai.com/u/William_Lane)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064/4 "2025-07-07T23:19:53Z")

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Just posting to add my voice here, I’m having the same issue. Both in the UI and via API. The file exists in Storage, but same 400 error regardless.

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**Author:** ![polepole](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/polepole/32/740575_2.png) [@polepole](https://community.openai.com/u/polepole)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/error-400-file-doesnt-exist-when-using-for-fine-tuning/1310064/5 "2025-07-08T01:01:34Z")

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You may follow status:

> **[Outage in creating new finetune jobs via API - OpenAI Status](https://status.openai.com/incidents/01JZKP6GCYYJK43RMW426CF2B2)**
>
> We have identified that users are experiencing elevated errors for the impacted services.
> 
> 
> • API / Fine-tuning
> 
> 
> We are working on implementing a mitigation.