diff --git a/letta/services/agent_serialization_manager.py b/letta/services/agent_serialization_manager.py
index 55b50907..5635ed3b 100644
--- a/letta/services/agent_serialization_manager.py
+++ b/letta/services/agent_serialization_manager.py
@@ -936,7 +936,10 @@ class AgentSerializationManager:
             # update file status to ERROR
             try:
                 await self.file_manager.update_file_status(
-                    file_id=file_id, actor=actor, processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR, error_message=str(e)
+                    file_id=file_id,
+                    actor=actor,
+                    processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR,
+                    error_message=str(e) if str(e) else f"Agent serialization failed: {type(e).__name__}",
                 )
             except Exception as update_error:
                 logger.error(f"Failed to update file status to ERROR for {file_id}: {update_error}")
diff --git a/letta/services/file_processor/file_processor.py b/letta/services/file_processor/file_processor.py
index 76cac3d7..6e63a1ec 100644
--- a/letta/services/file_processor/file_processor.py
+++ b/letta/services/file_processor/file_processor.py
@@ -264,7 +264,10 @@ class FileProcessor:
                 },
             )
             await self.file_manager.update_file_status(
-                file_id=file_metadata.id, actor=self.actor, processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR, error_message=str(e)
+                file_id=file_metadata.id,
+                actor=self.actor,
+                processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR,
+                error_message=str(e) if str(e) else f"File processing failed: {type(e).__name__}",
             )
 
             return []
@@ -361,7 +364,7 @@ class FileProcessor:
                 file_id=file_metadata.id,
                 actor=self.actor,
                 processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR,
-                error_message=str(e),
+                error_message=str(e) if str(e) else f"Import file processing failed: {type(e).__name__}",
             )
 
             return []
diff --git a/letta/utils.py b/letta/utils.py
index 7ca81bff..b3983eab 100644
--- a/letta/utils.py
+++ b/letta/utils.py
@@ -1132,7 +1132,7 @@ def safe_create_file_processing_task(coro, file_metadata, server, actor, logger:
                     file_id=file_metadata.id,
                     actor=actor,
                     processing_status=FileProcessingStatus.ERROR,
-                    error_message=f"Processing failed: {str(e)}" if str(e) else "Processing failed due to an unexpected error",
+                    error_message=f"Processing failed: {str(e)}" if str(e) else f"Processing failed: {type(e).__name__}",
                 )
             except Exception as update_error:
                 logger.error(f"Failed to update file status to ERROR for {file_metadata.id}: {update_error}")