Playwright installation error: Failed to install browsers (ffmpeg) on Windows with Node version 20.14.0

I have a Windows laptop with the latest Node LTS version 20.14.0. I tried to install Playwright with the command npm init playwright@latest but I keep getting the below error:

Downloading browsers (npx playwright install)…
Downloading FFMPEG playwright build v1009 from https://playwright.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
1.4 MiB [================    ] 78% 0.0sError: Download failed: server closed connection. URL: https://playwright.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
    at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (C:\Users\...\e2e\node_modules\playwright-core\lib\server\registry\oopDownloadBrowserMain.js:89:24)
    at IncomingMessage.emit (node:events:519:28)
    at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:169:8)
    at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:128:3)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)
Downloading FFMPEG playwright build v1009 from https://playwright-akamai.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
1.4 MiB [==============      ] 71% 0.1sError: Download failed: server closed connection. URL: https://playwright-akamai.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
    at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (C:\Users\...\e2e\node_modules\playwright-core\lib\server\registry\oopDownloadBrowserMain.js:89:24)
    at IncomingMessage.emit (node:events:519:28)
    at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:169:8)
    at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:128:3)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)
Downloading FFMPEG playwright build v1009 from https://playwright-verizon.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
1.4 MiB [===============     ] 74% 0.1sError: Download failed: server closed connection. URL: https://playwright-verizon.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip
    at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (C:\Users\...\e2e\node_modules\playwright-core\lib\server\registry\oopDownloadBrowserMain.js:89:24)
    at IncomingMessage.emit (node:events:519:28)
    at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:169:8)
    at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:128:3)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)
Failed to install browsers
Error: Failed to download FFMPEG playwright build v1009, caused by
Error: Download failure, code=1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Users\...\e2e\node_modules\playwright-core\lib\server\registry\browserFetcher.js:91:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:519:28)
    at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:294:12)
Error: Command failed: npx playwright install
    at genericNodeError (node:internal/errors:984:15)
    at wrappedFn (node:internal/errors:538:14)
    at checkExecSyncError (node:child_process:890:11)
    at execSync (node:child_process:962:15)
    at executeCommands (C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_npx\d352e76cc6b4974c\node_modules\create-playwright\lib\index.js:4519:39)
    at Generator.run (C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_npx\d352e76cc6b4974c\node_modules\create-playwright\lib\index.js:4690:5)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_npx\d352e76cc6b4974c\node_modules\create-playwright\lib\index.js:4981:3 {
  status: 1,
  signal: null,
  output: [ null, null, null ],
  pid: 23804,
  stdout: null,
  stderr: null
}

Not sure how to get rid of this error and install Playwright properly. Any help would be appreciated.

Solution

I figured out the solution for this error:

I downloaded the -ffmpeg-win64 from the link provided in the error i.e., https://playwright.azureedge.net/builds/ffmpeg/1009/ffmpeg-win64.zip.
I extracted the downloaded zip file ffmpeg-win64.zip and placed the file ffmpeg-win64.exe in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ms-playwright\chromium-1117\chrome-win folder.
I reloaded my VS Code. I then ran the command npx playwright install. There may still be some errors with the firefox browser installation for playwright. After rerunning the command, I got 3 new additional folders, ffmpeg-1009, firefox-1449 and webkit-2003, in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ms-playwright\ folder.
Then I again added the same file ffmpeg-win64.exe in the C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ms-playwright\firefox-1449\firefox folder.
I reran the command npx playwright install. This time everything got installed correctly.
You can now also delete all the files in the e2e folder and rerun the first command, npm init playwright@latest. This time everything should be installed correctly.