diff --git a/cypress/e2e/error.cy.js b/cypress/e2e/error.cy.js
index ea3062ca1..3656d805f 100644
--- a/cypress/e2e/error.cy.js
+++ b/cypress/e2e/error.cy.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ describe('WaveSurfer error handling tests', () => {
     cy.window().its('WaveSurfer').should('exist')
 
     cy.window().then((win) => {
-      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+      return new Promise((resolve) => {
         win.wavesurfer = win.WaveSurfer.create({
           container: '#waveform',
           height: 200,
diff --git a/src/player.ts b/src/player.ts
index 82dee7f65..60e588562 100644
--- a/src/player.ts
+++ b/src/player.ts
@@ -31,25 +31,25 @@ class Player<T extends GeneralEventTypes> extends EventEmitter<T> {
     }
     // Speed
     if (options.playbackRate != null) {
-      this.onceMediaEvent('canplay', () => {
-        if (options.playbackRate != null) {
-          this.media.playbackRate = options.playbackRate
-        }
-      })
+      this.onMediaEvent(
+        'canplay',
+        () => {
+          if (options.playbackRate != null) {
+            this.media.playbackRate = options.playbackRate
+          }
+        },
+        { once: true },
+      )
     }
   }
 
-  protected onMediaEvent(
-    event: keyof HTMLMediaElementEventMap,
-    callback: () => void,
-    options?: AddEventListenerOptions,
+  protected onMediaEvent<K extends keyof HTMLElementEventMap>(
+    event: K,
+    callback: (ev: HTMLElementEventMap[K]) => void,
+    options?: boolean | AddEventListenerOptions,
   ): () => void {
     this.media.addEventListener(event, callback, options)
-    return () => this.media.removeEventListener(event, callback)
-  }
-
-  protected onceMediaEvent(event: keyof HTMLMediaElementEventMap, callback: () => void): () => void {
-    return this.onMediaEvent(event, callback, { once: true })
+    return () => this.media.removeEventListener(event, callback, options)
   }
 
   protected getSrc() {
diff --git a/src/wavesurfer.ts b/src/wavesurfer.ts
index d92be15ff..51578513b 100644
--- a/src/wavesurfer.ts
+++ b/src/wavesurfer.ts
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ export type WaveSurferEvents = {
   /** Just before the waveform is destroyed so you can clean up your events */
   destroy: []
   /** When source file is unable to be fetched, decoded, or an error is thrown by media element */
-  error: []
+  error: [error: Error]
 }
 
 class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
@@ -187,7 +187,9 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
       // of render w/o audio if pre-decoded peaks and duration are provided
       const url = this.options.url || this.getSrc() || ''
       if (url || (this.options.peaks && this.options.duration)) {
-        this.load(url, this.options.peaks, this.options.duration)
+        // Swallow async errors because they cannot be caught from a constructor call.
+        // Subscribe to the wavesurfer's error event to handle them.
+        this.load(url, this.options.peaks, this.options.duration).catch(() => null)
       }
     })
   }
@@ -244,8 +246,8 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
         this.emit('seeking', this.getCurrentTime())
       }),
 
-      this.onMediaEvent('error', () => {
-        this.emit('error')
+      this.onMediaEvent('error', (err) => {
+        this.emit('error', err.error)
       }),
     )
   }
@@ -392,15 +394,6 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
     if (!blob && !channelData) {
       const onProgress = (percentage: number) => this.emit('loading', percentage)
       blob = await Fetcher.fetchBlob(url, onProgress, this.options.fetchParams)
-        .then((blob) => blob)
-        .catch(() => {
-          this.emit('error')
-          return undefined
-        })
-    }
-
-    if (!blob) {
-      return
     }
 
     // Set the mediaelement source
@@ -411,7 +404,7 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
       duration ||
       this.getDuration() ||
       (await new Promise((resolve) => {
-        this.onceMediaEvent('loadedmetadata', () => resolve(this.getDuration()))
+        this.onMediaEvent('loadedmetadata', () => resolve(this.getDuration()), { once: true })
       }))
 
     // Set the duration if the player is a WebAudioPlayer without a URL
@@ -428,11 +421,6 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
     } else if (blob) {
       const arrayBuffer = await blob.arrayBuffer()
       this.decodedData = await Decoder.decode(arrayBuffer, this.options.sampleRate)
-        .then((buffer) => buffer)
-        .catch(() => {
-          this.emit('error')
-          return null
-        })
     }
 
     if (this.decodedData) {
@@ -445,12 +433,22 @@ class WaveSurfer extends Player<WaveSurferEvents> {
 
   /** Load an audio file by URL, with optional pre-decoded audio data */
   public async load(url: string, channelData?: WaveSurferOptions['peaks'], duration?: number) {
-    await this.loadAudio(url, undefined, channelData, duration)
+    try {
+      return await this.loadAudio(url, undefined, channelData, duration)
+    } catch (err) {
+      this.emit('error', err as Error)
+      throw err
+    }
   }
 
   /** Load an audio blob */
   public async loadBlob(blob: Blob, channelData?: WaveSurferOptions['peaks'], duration?: number) {
-    await this.loadAudio('blob', blob, channelData, duration)
+    try {
+      return await this.loadAudio('blob', blob, channelData, duration)
+    } catch (err) {
+      this.emit('error', err as Error)
+      throw err
+    }
   }
 
   /** Zoom the waveform by a given pixels-per-second factor */