diff --git a/app/assets/api/routes.py b/app/assets/api/routes.py
index 544a614f2..7ef462f5c 100644
--- a/app/assets/api/routes.py
+++ b/app/assets/api/routes.py
@@ -533,18 +533,14 @@ async def update_asset_route(request: web.Request) -> web.Response:
 @_require_assets_feature_enabled
 async def delete_asset_route(request: web.Request) -> web.Response:
     reference_id = str(uuid.UUID(request.match_info["id"]))
-    delete_content_param = request.query.get("delete_content")
-    delete_content = (
-        False
-        if delete_content_param is None
-        else delete_content_param.lower() not in {"0", "false", "no"}
-    )
 
     try:
+        # Deleting an asset is a soft delete of the reference; the underlying
+        # content is preserved (it may be shared with other references).
         deleted = delete_asset_reference(
             reference_id=reference_id,
             owner_id=USER_MANAGER.get_request_user_id(request),
-            delete_content_if_orphan=delete_content,
+            delete_content_if_orphan=False,
         )
     except Exception:
         logging.exception(
diff --git a/app/assets/services/asset_management.py b/app/assets/services/asset_management.py
index 1072c95fa..d4e4fc61c 100644
--- a/app/assets/services/asset_management.py
+++ b/app/assets/services/asset_management.py
@@ -160,6 +160,16 @@ def delete_asset_reference(
     owner_id: str,
     delete_content_if_orphan: bool = True,
 ) -> bool:
+    """Delete an asset reference.
+
+    With ``delete_content_if_orphan=False`` (a soft delete), the reference is
+    hidden and the underlying content is preserved. With ``True``, the content
+    is also removed once it becomes orphaned.
+
+    Note: the public DELETE /api/assets/{id} endpoint always soft-deletes
+    (passes ``False``); the orphan-reclamation path is intentionally
+    internal-only, retained for a future GC/admin caller.
+    """
     with create_session() as session:
         if not delete_content_if_orphan:
             # Soft delete: mark the reference as deleted but keep everything
diff --git a/tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py b/tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py
index 9867b4e14..4aa20372f 100644
--- a/tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py
+++ b/tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import subprocess
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import time
+import uuid
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Callable, Iterator, Optional
 
@@ -188,9 +189,17 @@ def _post_multipart_asset(
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def make_asset_bytes() -> Callable[[str, int], bytes]:
+    # Salt content per test so it never collides with assets left over from
+    # earlier tests. Delete is now always a soft delete (content is preserved),
+    # so the suite can no longer rely on hard-deleting content for isolation.
+    # Deterministic within a test: the same (name, size) yields the same bytes.
+    salt = uuid.uuid4().bytes
+
     def _make(name: str, size: int = 8192) -> bytes:
         seed = sum(ord(c) for c in name) % 251
-        return bytes((i * 31 + seed) % 256 for i in range(size))
+        body = bytearray((i * 31 + seed) % 256 for i in range(size))
+        body[: len(salt)] = salt[:size]
+        return bytes(body)
     return _make
 
 
@@ -212,7 +221,7 @@ def asset_factory(http: requests.Session, api_base: str):
 
     for aid in created:
         with contextlib.suppress(Exception):
-            http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=30)
+            http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=30)
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -227,7 +236,11 @@ def seeded_asset(request: pytest.FixtureRequest, http: requests.Session, api_bas
     if tags is None:
         tags = ["models", "checkpoints", "unit-tests", "alpha"]
     meta = {"purpose": "test", "epoch": 1, "flags": ["x", "y"], "nullable": None}
-    files = {"file": (name, b"A" * 4096, "application/octet-stream")}
+    # Unique content per test so the seed always creates a fresh asset (201).
+    # Delete is now always a soft delete, so content from a prior test survives
+    # and would otherwise dedup this upload into an existing asset (200).
+    content = uuid.uuid4().bytes + b"A" * (4096 - 16)
+    files = {"file": (name, content, "application/octet-stream")}
     form_data = {
         "tags": json.dumps(tags),
         "name": name,
@@ -260,4 +273,4 @@ def autoclean_unit_test_assets(http: requests.Session, api_base: str):
             break
         for aid in ids:
             with contextlib.suppress(Exception):
-                http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=30)
+                http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=30)
diff --git a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_crud.py b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_crud.py
index fd2e9a098..36abb60ee 100644
--- a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_crud.py
+++ b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_crud.py
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ def test_get_and_delete_asset(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seeded_asse
     assert "user_metadata" in detail
     assert "filename" in detail["user_metadata"]
 
-    # DELETE (hard delete to also remove underlying asset and file)
-    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # Soft delete — the reference is hidden, content is preserved
+    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
     # GET again -> 404
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def test_soft_delete_hides_from_get(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seede
     aid = seeded_asset["id"]
     asset_hash = seeded_asset["asset_hash"]
 
-    # Soft-delete (default, no delete_content param)
+    # Soft delete — the reference is hidden, content is preserved
     rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
@@ -81,11 +81,10 @@ def test_soft_delete_hides_from_get(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seede
     ids = [a["id"] for a in rl.json().get("assets", [])]
     assert aid not in ids
 
-    # Clean up: hard-delete the soft-deleted reference and orphaned asset
-    http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # The reference is already soft-deleted; content is preserved.
 
 
-def test_delete_upon_reference_count(
+def test_soft_delete_preserves_asset_identity_across_references(
     http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seeded_asset: dict
 ):
     # Create a second reference to the same asset via from-hash
@@ -119,16 +118,20 @@ def test_delete_upon_reference_count(
     rh2 = http.head(f"{api_base}/api/assets/hash/{src_hash}", timeout=120)
     assert rh2.status_code == 200  # asset identity preserved (soft delete)
 
-    # Re-associate via from-hash, then hard-delete -> orphan content removed
+    # Re-associate via from-hash: it must reuse the same preserved content
+    # (created_new False AND the same hash), proving the soft deletes did not
+    # destroy the underlying asset. Then soft-delete again -> still preserved.
     r3 = http.post(f"{api_base}/api/assets/from-hash", json=payload, timeout=120)
     assert r3.status_code == 201, r3.json()
+    assert r3.json()["created_new"] is False
+    assert r3.json()["asset_hash"] == src_hash  # reused the surviving content
     aid3 = r3.json()["id"]
 
-    rd3 = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid3}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    rd3 = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid3}", timeout=120)
     assert rd3.status_code == 204
 
     rh3 = http.head(f"{api_base}/api/assets/hash/{src_hash}", timeout=120)
-    assert rh3.status_code == 404  # orphan content removed
+    assert rh3.status_code == 200  # content preserved (soft delete)
 
 
 def test_update_asset_fields(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, seeded_asset: dict):
@@ -249,7 +252,7 @@ def test_concurrent_delete_same_asset_info_single_204(
 
     # Hit the same endpoint N times in parallel.
     n_tests = 4
-    url = f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=false"
+    url = f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}"
 
     def _do_delete(delete_url):
         with requests.Session() as s:
diff --git a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_downloads.py b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_downloads.py
index 672ba9728..42c64a5fd 100644
--- a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_downloads.py
+++ b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_downloads.py
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def test_download_missing_file_returns_404(
         assert body["error"]["code"] == "FILE_NOT_FOUND"
     finally:
         # We created asset without the "unit-tests" tag(see `autoclean_unit_test_assets`), we need to clear it manually.
-        dr = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+        dr = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{aid}", timeout=120)
         dr.content
 
 
diff --git a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_tags_api.py b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_tags_api.py
index 595bf29c6..9729b7d03 100644
--- a/tests-unit/assets_test/test_tags_api.py
+++ b/tests-unit/assets_test/test_tags_api.py
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ def test_tags_empty_usage(http: requests.Session, api_base: str, asset_factory,
     used_names = [t["name"] for t in body2["tags"]]
     assert custom_tag in used_names
 
-    # Hard-delete the asset so the tag usage drops to zero
-    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{_asset['id']}?delete_content=true", timeout=120)
+    # Delete the asset reference so the tag usage drops to zero
+    rd = http.delete(f"{api_base}/api/assets/{_asset['id']}", timeout=120)
     assert rd.status_code == 204
 
     # Now the custom tag must not be returned when include_zero=false