diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
index 62ec63011e..a1121693b5 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
@@ -188,6 +188,8 @@ export abstract class BrowserType extends SdkObject {
     tempDirectories.push(artifactsDir);
 
     if (userDataDir) {
+      if (!path.isAbsolute(userDataDir))
+        userDataDir = path.resolve(userDataDir);
       // Firefox bails if the profile directory does not exist, Chrome creates it. We ensure consistent behavior here.
       if (!await existsAsync(userDataDir))
         await fs.promises.mkdir(userDataDir, { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
diff --git a/tests/library/defaultbrowsercontext-2.spec.ts b/tests/library/defaultbrowsercontext-2.spec.ts
index e16dc6b0ba..abf616161e 100644
--- a/tests/library/defaultbrowsercontext-2.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/defaultbrowsercontext-2.spec.ts
@@ -101,6 +101,20 @@ it('should accept userDataDir', async ({ createUserDataDir, browserType }) => {
   expect(fs.readdirSync(userDataDir).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
 });
 
+it('should accept relative userDataDir', async ({ createUserDataDir, browserType }) => {
+  const userDataDir = await createUserDataDir();
+  const cwd = process.cwd();
+  try {
+    console.log(userDataDir);
+    process.chdir(userDataDir);
+    const context = await browserType.launchPersistentContext('foobar');
+    expect(fs.readdirSync(path.join(userDataDir, 'foobar')).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    await context.close();
+  } finally {
+    process.chdir(cwd);
+  }
+});
+
 it('should restore state from userDataDir', async ({ browserType, server, createUserDataDir, isMac, browserName }) => {
   it.slow();