diff --git a/backend/app/downloads/errors.py b/backend/app/downloads/errors.py
index e336d871..2289e647 100644
--- a/backend/app/downloads/errors.py
+++ b/backend/app/downloads/errors.py
@@ -37,9 +37,10 @@ from app.downloads.credentials import host_key_for_url
 
 # Worker-authored strings that this module owns because each is coupled to `_RULES`.
 #
-# QUOTA_FULL_MESSAGE and CLIP_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE are raised by the worker and must classify back to
-# `quota_exceeded`; their rules below match a fragment of each, and test_download_errors pins the pair, because a message and its
-# rule drifting apart is exactly how a category silently becomes unreachable.
+# QUOTA_FULL_MESSAGE, CLIP_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE and CONVERTED_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE are raised by the worker and
+# must classify back to `quota_exceeded`; their rules below match a fragment of each, and
+# test_download_errors pins each one, because a message and its rule drifting apart is exactly how a
+# category silently becomes unreachable.
 #
 # NETWORK_REDACTED_MESSAGE REPLACES a message after classification (`user_error_text`). It is written
 # to the shared asset too, and a second job that inherits that failed asset re-diagnoses the stored
@@ -53,11 +54,16 @@ from app.downloads.credentials import host_key_for_url
 # constants, imported above; each has a rule below that gives its category back, and a catalog entry
 # that gives the site's sentence.
 QUOTA_FULL_MESSAGE = "Your download storage is full — free up space, then try again."
-# A cut clip held to the space left, which is not zero: "full" would be untrue.
+# A cut clip, or an upload's converted file, held to the space left, which is not zero: "full"
+# would be untrue. Both classify by the one phrase they share.
 CLIP_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE = (
     "The clip is larger than the download storage you have left — "
     "free up space or cut a shorter clip, then try again."
 )
+CONVERTED_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE = (
+    "The converted file is larger than the download storage you have left — "
+    "free up space, then try again."
+)
 UPLOAD_MISSING_MESSAGE = "The uploaded file is missing."
 NETWORK_REDACTED_MESSAGE = "The server could not reach that address."
 
diff --git a/backend/app/downloads/pipeline.py b/backend/app/downloads/pipeline.py
index 28baf133..d995e394 100644
--- a/backend/app/downloads/pipeline.py
+++ b/backend/app/downloads/pipeline.py
@@ -1160,7 +1160,7 @@ def _check_converted_fits(owner_id: int | None, old_size: int, new_size: int) ->
         return
     with SessionLocal() as db:
         if not quota.fits_after_conversion(db, owner_id, old_size, new_size):
-            raise StatedFailure(dlerrors.QUOTA_FULL_MESSAGE)
+            raise StatedFailure(dlerrors.CONVERTED_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE)
 
 
 def _unplace(placed: Path | None) -> None:
diff --git a/backend/app/routes/public.py b/backend/app/routes/public.py
index fcf0d575..42099a93 100644
--- a/backend/app/routes/public.py
+++ b/backend/app/routes/public.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from app.db import get_db
 from app.downloads import links as linksmod
 from app.downloads import storage
 from app.downloads.status import JobStatus
-from app.models import DownloadJob, DownloadLink, MediaAsset
+from app.models import DownloadJob, DownloadLink, MediaAsset, User
 from app.ratelimit import RateLimiter, client_key
 from app.security import verify_password
 from app.refusal import refused
@@ -44,6 +44,17 @@ def _link_or_404(db: Session, token: str) -> DownloadLink:
     return link
 
 
+def _being_made(db: Session, job: DownloadJob) -> bool:
+    """The job is running, or queued for a worker that will take it: the worker leaves a suspended
+    owner's queued jobs where they are (`worker._claim_job`), as long as the suspension lasts."""
+    if job.status == JobStatus.RUNNING:
+        return True
+    if job.status != JobStatus.QUEUED:
+        return False
+    owner = db.get(User, job.user_id)
+    return owner is not None and not owner.is_suspended
+
+
 def _ready_target(db: Session, link: DownloadLink) -> tuple[DownloadJob, MediaAsset]:
     job = db.get(DownloadJob, link.job_id)
     asset = db.get(MediaAsset, job.asset_id) if job and job.asset_id else None
@@ -51,7 +62,7 @@ def _ready_target(db: Session, link: DownloadLink) -> tuple[DownloadJob, MediaAs
         job is not None
         and asset is not None
         and asset.status in ("pending", "downloading")
-        and job.status in (JobStatus.QUEUED, JobStatus.RUNNING)
+        and _being_made(db, job)
     ):
         # Being (re)made — a re-download, or a conversion — so the link works again once it is ready:
         # its own reason, so the page can say "try again shortly" rather than "this link is gone".
diff --git a/backend/app/worker.py b/backend/app/worker.py
index d185a01a..dbff8e35 100644
--- a/backend/app/worker.py
+++ b/backend/app/worker.py
@@ -167,7 +167,8 @@ def _claim_job() -> int | None:
 
     A suspended user's queued jobs are left where they are: suspension blocks their downloads (not
     only their sign-in), and lifting it lets them run in their old place. A job already running
-    when the user is suspended finishes."""
+    when the user is suspended finishes on that worker; one a worker restart puts back in the queue
+    (`_requeue_if_running`, `_recover_orphans`) waits with the rest."""
     with SessionLocal() as db:
         default_mc = sysconfig.get_int(db, "download_default_max_concurrent")
         rows = db.execute(
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_download_errors.py b/backend/tests/test_download_errors.py
index 6b6e0e5d..9451d3df 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_download_errors.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_download_errors.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ def test_our_own_worker_refusals_classify_as_themselves():
     # from silently orphaning the category — the UI would then fall back to "Download failed".
     assert classify(dlerrors.QUOTA_FULL_MESSAGE) == "quota_exceeded"
     assert classify(dlerrors.CLIP_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE) == "quota_exceeded"
+    assert classify(dlerrors.CONVERTED_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE) == "quota_exceeded"
 
 
 def test_the_redacted_network_text_classifies_back_to_network():
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_upload_conversion.py b/backend/tests/test_upload_conversion.py
index 2a33bea5..8a8407f0 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_upload_conversion.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_upload_conversion.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import pytest
 
 from app import sysconfig
 from app.config import settings
+from app.downloads import errors as dlerrors
 from app.downloads import gc as gcmod
 from app.downloads import pipeline, quota, storage
 from app.downloads import probe as probemod
@@ -124,6 +125,8 @@ def test_a_conversion_that_outgrows_the_cap_is_refused_and_keeps_the_original(
     db.expire_all()
     job = db.get(DownloadJob, job.id)
     assert (job.status, job.error_code) == ("error", "quota_exceeded")
+    # 90 of the 100 are still free: the converted file is too big, the storage is not full.
+    assert job.error == dlerrors.CONVERTED_TOO_BIG_MESSAGE
     assert original.exists()
     assert [p.name for p in _uploads_dir(_root, u.id).iterdir()] == [original.name]
 
@@ -558,6 +561,33 @@ def test_a_link_says_preparing_only_while_its_video_is_being_made(
     assert r.json()["detail"]["reason"] == reason
 
 
+def test_a_link_to_a_suspended_owners_waiting_rebuild_says_it_is_gone(
+    db, as_user, make_user, _root, monkeypatch, upload_headers
+):
+    # The worker leaves a suspended user's queued jobs where they are, maybe for good: like a paused
+    # rebuild, nothing is making the video, so "try again shortly" would never come true.
+    _probe(monkeypatch, vcodec="h264")
+    owner = make_user()
+    c = as_user(owner)
+    job = c.post(
+        "/api/downloads/upload", content=b"h264 bytes", headers=upload_headers("clip.mp4")
+    ).json()
+    link = c.post(f"/api/downloads/{job['id']}/links", json={"allow_download": False}).json()
+    db.get(MediaAsset, job["asset"]["id"]).status = "pending"
+    db.get(DownloadJob, job["id"]).status = "queued"
+    owner.is_suspended = True
+    db.commit()
+    r = c.get(f"/api/public/watch/{link['token']}")
+    assert r.status_code == 404
+    assert r.json()["detail"]["reason"] == "video_gone"
+    # A rebuild already running when the owner was suspended still finishes.
+    db.get(DownloadJob, job["id"]).status = "running"
+    db.commit()
+    assert c.get(f"/api/public/watch/{link['token']}").json()["detail"]["reason"] == (
+        "video_preparing"
+    )
+
+
 def test_the_admin_storage_view_counts_a_waiting_upload(db, as_user, make_user, _root, monkeypatch):
     # The same disk the owner's footprint and the GC's cap count (`quota.ON_DISK`).
     _probe(monkeypatch)