diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/reporters/base.ts b/packages/playwright/src/reporters/base.ts
index 0c023e8761..f418baeea4 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/reporters/base.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/reporters/base.ts
@@ -45,27 +45,41 @@ type TestSummary = {
   fatalErrors: TestError[];
 };
 
-export const isTTY = !!process.env.PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH || process.stdout.isTTY;
-export const ttyWidth = process.env.PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH ? parseInt(process.env.PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH, 10) : process.stdout.columns || 0;
-let useColors = isTTY;
-if (process.env.DEBUG_COLORS === '0'
-    || process.env.DEBUG_COLORS === 'false'
-    || process.env.FORCE_COLOR === '0'
-    || process.env.FORCE_COLOR === 'false')
-  useColors = false;
-else if (process.env.DEBUG_COLORS || process.env.FORCE_COLOR)
-  useColors = true;
+export const { isTTY, ttyWidth, colors } = (() => {
+  let isTTY = !!process.stdout.isTTY;
+  let ttyWidth = process.stdout.columns || 0;
+  if (process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY === 'false' || process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY === '0') {
+    isTTY = false;
+    ttyWidth = 0;
+  } else if (process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY === 'true' || process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY === '1') {
+    isTTY = true;
+    ttyWidth = process.stdout.columns || 100;
+  } else if (process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY) {
+    isTTY = true;
+    ttyWidth = +process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY;
+    if (isNaN(ttyWidth))
+      ttyWidth = 100;
+  }
 
-export const colors = useColors ? realColors : {
-  bold: (t: string) => t,
-  cyan: (t: string) => t,
-  dim: (t: string) => t,
-  gray: (t: string) => t,
-  green: (t: string) => t,
-  red: (t: string) => t,
-  yellow: (t: string) => t,
-  enabled: false,
-};
+  let useColors = isTTY;
+  if (process.env.DEBUG_COLORS === '0' || process.env.DEBUG_COLORS === 'false' ||
+      process.env.FORCE_COLOR === '0' || process.env.FORCE_COLOR === 'false')
+    useColors = false;
+  else if (process.env.DEBUG_COLORS || process.env.FORCE_COLOR)
+    useColors = true;
+
+  const colors = useColors ? realColors : {
+    bold: (t: string) => t,
+    cyan: (t: string) => t,
+    dim: (t: string) => t,
+    gray: (t: string) => t,
+    green: (t: string) => t,
+    red: (t: string) => t,
+    yellow: (t: string) => t,
+    enabled: false,
+  };
+  return { isTTY, ttyWidth, colors };
+})();
 
 export class BaseReporter implements ReporterV2 {
   config!: FullConfig;
diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/reporters/list.ts b/packages/playwright/src/reporters/list.ts
index 11f6a8b755..65057e16f9 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/reporters/list.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/reporters/list.ts
@@ -229,8 +229,6 @@ class ListReporter extends BaseReporter {
     // Go down if needed.
     if (row !== this._lastRow)
       process.stdout.write(`\u001B[${this._lastRow - row}E`);
-    if (process.env.PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH)
-      process.stdout.write('\n');  // For testing.
   }
 
   private _testPrefix(index: string, statusMark: string) {
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-blob.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-blob.spec.ts
index 2e0e39a337..dbd91049d1 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-blob.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-blob.spec.ts
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ test('merge into list report by default', async ({ runInlineTest, mergeReports }
   const reportFiles = await fs.promises.readdir(reportDir);
   reportFiles.sort();
   expect(reportFiles).toEqual(['report-1.zip', 'report-2.zip', 'report-3.zip']);
-  const { exitCode, output } = await mergeReports(reportDir, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS_PRINT_STEPS: '1', PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: '80' }, { additionalArgs: ['--reporter', 'list'] });
+  const { exitCode, output } = await mergeReports(reportDir, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS_PRINT_STEPS: '1', PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: '80' }, { additionalArgs: ['--reporter', 'list'] });
   expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
 
   const text = stripAnsi(output);
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-list.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-list.spec.ts
index 245b0e26d3..2b924e5986 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-list.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-list.spec.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { test, expect } from './playwright-test-fixtures';
+import { test, expect, stripAnsi } from './playwright-test-fixtures';
 
 const DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_UTF8_IN_TERMINAL = process.platform === 'win32' && process.env.TERM_PROGRAM !== 'vscode' && !process.env.WT_SESSION;
 const POSITIVE_STATUS_MARK = DOES_NOT_SUPPORT_UTF8_IN_TERMINAL ? 'ok' : '✓ ';
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ for (const useIntermediateMergeReport of [false, true] as const) {
             });
           });
         `,
-      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS_PRINT_STEPS: '1', PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: '80' });
+      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS_PRINT_STEPS: '1', PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: '80' });
       const text = result.output;
       const lines = text.split('\n').filter(l => l.match(/^\d :/)).map(l => l.replace(/[.\d]+m?s/, 'Xms'));
       lines.pop(); // Remove last item that contains [v] and time in ms.
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ for (const useIntermediateMergeReport of [false, true] as const) {
           await test.step('inner 2.2', async () => {});
         });
       });`,
-      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: '80' });
+      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: '80' });
       const text = result.output;
       const lines = text.split('\n').filter(l => l.match(/^\d :/)).map(l => l.replace(/[.\d]+m?s/, 'Xms'));
       lines.pop(); // Remove last item that contains [v] and time in ms.
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ for (const useIntermediateMergeReport of [false, true] as const) {
             console.log('a'.repeat(80) + 'b'.repeat(20));
           });
         `,
-      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: TTY_WIDTH + '' });
+      }, { reporter: 'list' }, { PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: TTY_WIDTH + '' });
 
       const renderedText = simpleAnsiRenderer(result.rawOutput, TTY_WIDTH);
       if (process.platform === 'win32')
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ for (const useIntermediateMergeReport of [false, true] as const) {
             expect(testInfo.retry).toBe(1);
           });
         `,
-      }, { reporter: 'list', retries: '1' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: '80' });
+      }, { reporter: 'list', retries: '1' }, { PW_TEST_DEBUG_REPORTERS: '1', PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: '80' });
       const text = result.output;
       const lines = text.split('\n').filter(l => l.startsWith('0 :') || l.startsWith('1 :')).map(l => l.replace(/\d+(\.\d+)?m?s/, 'XXms'));
 
@@ -185,10 +185,10 @@ for (const useIntermediateMergeReport of [false, true] as const) {
           test.skip('skipped very long name', async () => {
           });
         `,
-      }, { reporter: 'list', retries: 0 }, { PWTEST_TTY_WIDTH: '50' });
+      }, { reporter: 'list', retries: 0 }, { PLAYWRIGHT_FORCE_TTY: '50' });
       expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
 
-      const lines = result.output.split('\n').slice(3, 11);
+      const lines = result.rawOutput.split('\n').map(line => line.split('\x1B[22m\x1B[1E')).flat().map(line => stripAnsi(line)).filter(line => line.trim()).slice(1, 9);
       expect(lines.every(line => line.length <= 50)).toBe(true);
 
       expect(lines[0]).toBe(`     1 …a.test.ts:3:15 › failure in very long name`);