diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/matchers/golden.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/matchers/golden.ts
index ad1af02912..1605bb55fe 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/matchers/golden.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/matchers/golden.ts
@@ -37,15 +37,17 @@ const extensionToMimeType: { [key: string]: string } = {
 };
 
 const GoldenComparators: { [key: string]: any } = {
-  'application/octet-string': compareBuffers,
+  'application/octet-string': compareBuffersOrStrings,
   'image/png': compareImages,
   'image/jpeg': compareImages,
   'text/plain': compareText,
 };
 
-function compareBuffers(actualBuffer: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer, mimeType: string): { diff?: object; errorMessage?: string; } | null {
+function compareBuffersOrStrings(actualBuffer: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer, mimeType: string): { diff?: object; errorMessage?: string; } | null {
+  if (typeof actualBuffer === 'string')
+    return compareText(actualBuffer, expectedBuffer);
   if (!actualBuffer || !(actualBuffer instanceof Buffer))
-    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be Buffer.' };
+    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be a Buffer or a string.' };
   if (Buffer.compare(actualBuffer, expectedBuffer))
     return { errorMessage: 'Buffers differ' };
   return null;
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ function compareBuffers(actualBuffer: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer, m
 
 function compareImages(actualBuffer: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer, mimeType: string, options = {}): { diff?: object; errorMessage?: string; } | null {
   if (!actualBuffer || !(actualBuffer instanceof Buffer))
-    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be Buffer.' };
+    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be a Buffer.' };
 
   const actual = mimeType === 'image/png' ? PNG.sync.read(actualBuffer) : jpeg.decode(actualBuffer);
   const expected = mimeType === 'image/png' ? PNG.sync.read(expectedBuffer) : jpeg.decode(expectedBuffer);
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ function compareImages(actualBuffer: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer, mi
 
 function compareText(actual: Buffer | string, expectedBuffer: Buffer): { diff?: object; errorMessage?: string; diffExtension?: string; } | null {
   if (typeof actual !== 'string')
-    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be string' };
+    return { errorMessage: 'Actual result should be a string' };
   const expected = expectedBuffer.toString('utf-8');
   if (expected === actual)
     return null;
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/golden.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/golden.spec.ts
index 5e77f2d066..47b41684b1 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/golden.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/golden.spec.ts
@@ -654,3 +654,17 @@ test('should fail with missing expectations and retries', async ({ runInlineTest
   const data = fs.readFileSync(snapshotOutputPath);
   expect(data.toString()).toBe('Hello world');
 });
+
+test('should allow comparing text with text without file extension', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+  const result = await runInlineTest({
+    ...files,
+    'a.spec.js-snapshots/snapshot-no-extension': `Hello world`,
+    'a.spec.js': `
+      const { test } = require('./helper');
+      test('is a test', ({}) => {
+        expect('Hello world').toMatchSnapshot('snapshot-no-extension');
+      });
+    `
+  });
+  expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+});
\ No newline at end of file