diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/util.ts b/packages/playwright/src/util.ts
index 7941dd731f118..ce7da5ef8bcc4 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/util.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/util.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
-import url from 'url';
 import util from 'util';
 
 import debug from 'debug';
@@ -114,12 +113,12 @@ export function createFileMatcher(patterns: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[
         return true;
     }
     // Windows might still receive unix style paths from Cygwin or Git Bash.
-    // Check against the file url as well.
+    // Check against the forward-slash form as well.
     if (path.sep === '\\') {
-      const fileURL = url.pathToFileURL(filePath).href;
+      const unixPath = filePath.split(path.sep).join('/');
       for (const re of reList) {
         re.lastIndex = 0;
-        if (re.test(fileURL))
+        if (re.test(unixPath))
           return true;
       }
     }
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/command-line-filter.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/command-line-filter.spec.ts
index e33cb8b318063..7d9ee14294a8d 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/command-line-filter.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/command-line-filter.spec.ts
@@ -172,6 +172,23 @@ test('should focus a single nested test spec', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   expect(result.report.suites[1].suites[0].suites[0].specs[0].title).toEqual('pass2');
 });
 
+test('should accept unix file path containing a space', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+  const result = await runInlineTest({
+    'dir with space/a.spec.ts': `
+      import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
+      test('passes', () => { expect(1).toBe(1); });
+    `,
+    'dir with space/b.spec.ts': `
+      import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
+      test('not picked', () => { expect(1).toBe(2); });
+    `,
+  }, undefined, undefined, { additionalArgs: ['dir with space/a.spec.ts'] });
+  expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+  expect(result.passed).toBe(1);
+  expect(result.report.suites).toHaveLength(1);
+  expect(result.report.suites[0].specs[0].title).toBe('passes');
+});
+
 test('should focus a single test suite', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   const result = await runInlineTest({
     'foo.test.ts': `