diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
index 2194c178aee7e..a94fd93c5f73e 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/File/File.php
@@ -114,6 +114,10 @@ public function getContent(): string
 
     protected function getTargetFile(string $directory, ?string $name = null): self
     {
+        if (is_file($directory)) {
+            throw new FileException(\sprintf('The path "%s" is a file and it was expected to be a directory.', $directory));
+        }
+
         if (!is_dir($directory)) {
             if (false === @mkdir($directory, 0777, true) && !is_dir($directory)) {
                 throw new FileException(\sprintf('Unable to create the "%s" directory.', $directory));