[Regression]: Cannot download this specific file using `page.on('response')`

[staticvariablejames]

Last Good Version

1.57.0

First Bad Version

1.58.0

Steps to reproduce

1. npm init -y && npm install playwright@1.58.0
2. Run the following code (node file.mjs)

// file.mjs
import { firefox as myBrowser } from 'playwright';
import { writeFile } from 'fs/promises';

let myUrl = 'https://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/index.html';
let myFilename = 'index.html';

let browser = await myBrowser.launch();
let page = await browser.newPage();

let downloadWaiterCallback = () => {};
let downloadWaiter = new Promise((resolve) => {
    downloadWaiterCallback = resolve;
});

await page.on('response', async (response) => {
    if(response.url() == myUrl && response.ok()) {
        try {
            let responseBody = await response.body();
            await writeFile(myFilename, responseBody);
        } catch (e) {
            console.log(`Problem: ${e}`);
        }
        downloadWaiterCallback();
    }
});

await page.goto(myUrl);
await downloadWaiter;
await browser.close();

Expected behavior

The given URL gets downloaded to the local file index.html.

Actual behavior

Firefox fails loudly: the console.log prints Problem: Error: response.body: Protocol error (Network.getResponseBody): Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIStreamListener.onDataAvailable]

Chromium fails silently: the line if(response.url() == myUrl && response.ok()) never succeeds.

WebKit works as expected.

Additional context

Version 1.59.0-alpha-2026-03-10 has the same results.

This might be related to #39160, although I'm also having issues with Chromium.

Environment

System:
    OS: Linux 6.8 Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS 24.04.4 LTS (Noble Numbat)
    CPU: (16) x64 AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS w/ Radeon 780M Graphics
    Memory: 40.32 GB / 54.73 GB
    Container: Yes
  Binaries:
    Node: 20.14.0 - /home/username/.nvm/versions/node/v20.14.0/bin/node
    npm: 10.7.0 - /home/username/.nvm/versions/node/v20.14.0/bin/npm
  Languages:
    Bash: 5.2.21 - /usr/bin/bash
  npmPackages:
    playwright: ^1.58.2 => 1.58.2

[staticvariablejames]

Correction: With import {chromium as myBrowser}, the last working version is Playwright 1.38.0, the code starts failing with Playwright 1.39.0.

Also, if I replace the URL with https://playwright.dev/index.html, everything works, so it may very well be user (me) error. (I do not have control over https://orteil.dashnet.org.)

[sreegithub89]

Workarounds You Could Try

1. Use page.route() instead of page.on('response')

• Intercept the request and manually fetch the response body.

await page.route(myUrl, async (route) => {
  const response = await route.fetch();
  const buffer = await response.body();
  await writeFile(myFilename, buffer);
  await route.fulfill({ response });
});

2. Fallback to page.content()

• If the target is HTML, you can grab the rendered DOM via await page.content() instead of intercepting the raw response.

3. Pin to Last Known Good Version

• For Firefox: Playwright 1.57.0
• For Chromium: Playwright 1.38.0

4. Track Related Issues

• The regression may be linked to [Bug]: Firefox 146 in v1.58.0 can't read response json body from GET requests #39160 (network response handling changes).