diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/classes.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/classes.rst
index 761be7b545..8c3cc0140f 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/classes.rst
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/classes.rst
@@ -159,27 +159,38 @@ software that includes bash-completion data.
 ``bin_package``
 ===============
 
-The :ref:`ref-classes-bin-package` class is a helper class for recipes that extract the
-contents of a binary package (e.g. an RPM) and install those contents
-rather than building the binary from source. The binary package is
-extracted and new packages in the configured output package format are
-created. Extraction and installation of proprietary binaries is a good
-example use for this class.
+The :ref:`ref-classes-bin-package` class is a helper class for recipes, that
+disables the :ref:`ref-tasks-configure` and :ref:`ref-tasks-compile` tasks and
+copies the content of the :term:`S` directory into the :term:`D` directory. This
+is useful for installing binary packages (e.g. RPM packages) by passing the
+package in the :term:`SRC_URI` variable and inheriting this class.
+
+For RPMs and other packages that do not contain a subdirectory, you should set
+the :term:`SRC_URI` option ``subdir`` to :term:`BP` so that the contents are
+extracted to the directory expected by the default value of :term:`S`. For
+example::
+
+   SRC_URI = "https://example.com/downloads/somepackage.rpm;subdir=${BP}"
+
+This class can also be used for tarballs. For example::
+
+   SRC_URI = "file://somepackage.tar.xz;subdir=${BP}"
+
+The :ref:`ref-classes-bin-package` class will copy the extracted content of the
+tarball from :term:`S` to :term:`D`.
+
+This class assumes that the content of the package as installed in :term:`S`
+mirrors the expected layout once installed on the target, which is generally the
+case for binary packages. For example, an RPM package for a library would
+usually contain the ``usr/lib`` directory, and should be extracted to
+``${S}/usr/lib/<library>.so.<version>`` to be installed in :term:`D` correctly.
 
 .. note::
 
-   For RPMs and other packages that do not contain a subdirectory, you
-   should specify an appropriate fetcher parameter to point to the
-   subdirectory. For example, if BitBake is using the Git fetcher (``git://``),
-   the "subpath" parameter limits the checkout to a specific subpath
-   of the tree. Here is an example where ``${BP}`` is used so that the files
-   are extracted into the subdirectory expected by the default value of
-   :term:`S`::
-
-      SRC_URI = "git://example.com/downloads/somepackage.rpm;branch=main;subpath=${BP}"
-
-   See the ":ref:`bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching:fetchers`" section in the BitBake User Manual for
-   more information on supported BitBake Fetchers.
+   The extraction of the package passed in :term:`SRC_URI` is not handled by the
+   :ref:`ref-classes-bin-package` class, but rather by the appropriate
+   :ref:`fetcher <bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-fetching:fetchers>`
+   depending on the file extension.
 
 .. _ref-classes-binconfig: