diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightServer.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightServer.ts
index 1753ae4bcf..2183b4bb1e 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightServer.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightServer.ts
@@ -68,7 +68,14 @@ export class PlaywrightServer {
   }
 
   async listen(port: number = 0): Promise<string> {
-    const server = http.createServer((request, response) => {
+    const server = http.createServer((request: http.IncomingMessage, response: http.ServerResponse) => {
+      if (request.method === 'GET' && request.url === '/json') {
+        response.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
+        response.end(JSON.stringify({
+          wsEndpointPath: this._options.path,
+        }));
+        return;
+      }
       response.end('Running');
     });
     server.on('error', error => debugLog(error));
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/dispatchers/browserTypeDispatcher.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/dispatchers/browserTypeDispatcher.ts
index fd210d29af..16159accc9 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/dispatchers/browserTypeDispatcher.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/dispatchers/browserTypeDispatcher.ts
@@ -26,8 +26,12 @@ import { getUserAgent } from '../../common/userAgent';
 import * as socks from '../../common/socksProxy';
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
 import { ProgressController } from '../progress';
+import type { Progress } from '../progress';
 import { WebSocketTransport } from '../transport';
 import { findValidator, ValidationError, type ValidatorContext } from '../../protocol/validator';
+import { fetchData } from '../../common/netUtils';
+import type { HTTPRequestParams } from '../../common/netUtils';
+import type http from 'http';
 
 export class BrowserTypeDispatcher extends Dispatcher<BrowserType, channels.BrowserTypeChannel, RootDispatcher> implements channels.BrowserTypeChannel {
   _type_BrowserType = true;
@@ -62,7 +66,9 @@ export class BrowserTypeDispatcher extends Dispatcher<BrowserType, channels.Brow
     controller.setLogName('browser');
     return await controller.run(async progress => {
       const paramsHeaders = Object.assign({ 'User-Agent': getUserAgent() }, params.headers || {});
-      const transport = await WebSocketTransport.connect(progress, params.wsEndpoint, paramsHeaders, true);
+      const wsEndpoint = await urlToWSEndpoint(progress, params.wsEndpoint);
+
+      const transport = await WebSocketTransport.connect(progress, wsEndpoint, paramsHeaders, true);
       let socksInterceptor: SocksInterceptor | undefined;
       const pipe = new JsonPipeDispatcher(this);
       transport.onmessage = json => {
@@ -154,3 +160,34 @@ class SocksInterceptor {
 function tChannelForSocks(names: '*' | string[], arg: any, path: string, context: ValidatorContext) {
   throw new ValidationError(`${path}: channels are not expected in SocksSupport`);
 }
+
+async function urlToWSEndpoint(progress: Progress, endpointURL: string): Promise<string> {
+  if (endpointURL.startsWith('ws'))
+    return endpointURL;
+
+  progress.log(`<ws preparing> retrieving websocket url from ${endpointURL}`);
+  const fetchUrl = new URL(endpointURL);
+  if (!fetchUrl.pathname.endsWith('/'))
+    fetchUrl.pathname += '/';
+  fetchUrl.pathname += 'json';
+  const json = await fetchData({
+    url: fetchUrl.toString(),
+    method: 'GET',
+    timeout: progress.timeUntilDeadline(),
+    headers: { 'User-Agent': getUserAgent() },
+  }, async (params: HTTPRequestParams, response: http.IncomingMessage) => {
+    return new Error(`Unexpected status ${response.statusCode} when connecting to ${fetchUrl.toString()}.\n` +
+        `This does not look like a Playwright server, try connecting via ws://.`);
+  });
+  progress.throwIfAborted();
+
+  const wsUrl = new URL(endpointURL);
+  let wsEndpointPath = JSON.parse(json).wsEndpointPath;
+  if (wsEndpointPath.startsWith('/'))
+    wsEndpointPath = wsEndpointPath.substring(1);
+  if (!wsUrl.pathname.endsWith('/'))
+    wsUrl.pathname += '/';
+  wsUrl.pathname += wsEndpointPath;
+  wsUrl.protocol = wsUrl.protocol === 'https:' ? 'wss:' : 'ws:';
+  return wsUrl.toString();
+}
diff --git a/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts b/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
index 1ce9357636..70f9320424 100644
--- a/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
@@ -645,3 +645,13 @@ test('should connect when launching', async ({ browserType, startRemoteServer, h
 
   (browserType as any)._defaultConnectOptions = undefined;
 });
+
+test('should connect over http', async ({ browserType, startRemoteServer, mode }) => {
+  test.skip(mode !== 'default');
+  const remoteServer = await startRemoteServer();
+
+  const url = new URL(remoteServer.wsEndpoint());
+  const browser = await browserType.connect(`http://localhost:${url.port}`);
+  expect(browser.version()).toBeTruthy();
+  await browser.close();
+});