diff --git a/lib/assert.js b/lib/assert.js
index b7d7a3da01d520..7230827aaa7a4b 100644
--- a/lib/assert.js
+++ b/lib/assert.js
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ function getErrMessage(message, fn) {
   overrideStackTrace.set(err, (_, stack) => stack);
   const call = err.stack[0];
 
-  const filename = call.getFileName();
+  let filename = call.getFileName();
   const line = call.getLineNumber() - 1;
   let column = call.getColumnNumber() - 1;
   let identifier;
@@ -330,6 +330,14 @@ function getErrMessage(message, fn) {
         const { StringDecoder } = require('string_decoder');
         decoder = new StringDecoder('utf8');
       }
+
+      // ESM file prop is a file proto. Convert that to path.
+      // This ensure opensync will not throw ENOENT for ESM files.
+      const fileProtoPrefix = 'file://';
+      if (StringPrototypeStartsWith(filename, fileProtoPrefix)) {
+        filename = StringPrototypeReplace(filename, fileProtoPrefix, '');
+      }
+
       fd = openSync(filename, 'r', 0o666);
       // Reset column and message.
       ({ 0: column, 1: message } = getCode(fd, line, column));