diff --git a/external/builder/babel-plugin-pdfjs-preprocessor.mjs b/external/builder/babel-plugin-pdfjs-preprocessor.mjs
index 8f8be7a724e750..ff92a7a7650224 100644
--- a/external/builder/babel-plugin-pdfjs-preprocessor.mjs
+++ b/external/builder/babel-plugin-pdfjs-preprocessor.mjs
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 import { types as t, transformSync } from "@babel/core";
-import fs from "fs";
-import { join as joinPaths } from "path";
 import vm from "vm";
 
 const PDFJS_PREPROCESSOR_NAME = "PDFJSDev";
-const ROOT_PREFIX = "$ROOT/";
 
 function isPDFJSPreprocessor(obj) {
   return obj.type === "Identifier" && obj.name === PDFJS_PREPROCESSOR_NAME;
@@ -40,18 +37,6 @@ function handlePreprocessorAction(ctx, actionName, args, path) {
           return result;
         }
         break;
-      case "json":
-        if (!t.isStringLiteral(arg)) {
-          throw new Error("Path to JSON is not provided");
-        }
-        let jsonPath = arg.value;
-        if (jsonPath.startsWith(ROOT_PREFIX)) {
-          jsonPath = joinPaths(
-            ctx.rootPath,
-            jsonPath.substring(ROOT_PREFIX.length)
-          );
-        }
-        return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(jsonPath, "utf8"));
     }
     throw new Error("Unsupported action");
   } catch (e) {
diff --git a/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals-expected.js b/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals-expected.js
index 510e62f1bb523d..71eee73d1e89da 100644
--- a/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals-expected.js
+++ b/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals-expected.js
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@ var g = {
   },
   j: 2
 };
-var h = {
-  test: "test"
-};
 var i = '0';
 var j = {
   i: 1
diff --git a/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals.js b/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals.js
index 94ec543b04d194..cabeb0746a949d 100644
--- a/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals.js
+++ b/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ var d = PDFJSDev.test('FALSE');
 var e = PDFJSDev.eval('TRUE');
 var f = PDFJSDev.eval('TEXT');
 var g = PDFJSDev.eval('OBJ');
-var h = PDFJSDev.json('$ROOT/external/builder/fixtures_babel/evals.json');
 var i = typeof PDFJSDev === 'undefined' ? PDFJSDev.eval('FALSE') : '0';
 var j = typeof PDFJSDev !== 'undefined' ? PDFJSDev.eval('OBJ.obj') : '0';
 var k = !PDFJSDev.test('TRUE');
diff --git a/gulpfile.mjs b/gulpfile.mjs
index 703053f536726d..403d606fee8d88 100644
--- a/gulpfile.mjs
+++ b/gulpfile.mjs
@@ -382,6 +382,7 @@ function createWebpackConfig(
     module: {
       rules: [
         {
+          test: /\.[mc]?js$/,
           loader: "babel-loader",
           exclude: babelExcludeRegExp,
           options: {
diff --git a/web/chromecom.js b/web/chromecom.js
index 1ece304791c1dd..625c8d81505b0a 100644
--- a/web/chromecom.js
+++ b/web/chromecom.js
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ import { BasePreferences } from "./preferences.js";
 import { GenericL10n } from "./genericl10n.js";
 import { GenericScripting } from "./generic_scripting.js";
 
+// These strings are from chrome/app/resources/generated_resources_*.xtb.
+import i18nFileAccessLabels from "./chrome-i18n-allow-access-to-file-urls.json" with { type: "json" };
+
 if (typeof PDFJSDev === "undefined" || !PDFJSDev.test("CHROME")) {
   throw new Error(
     'Module "pdfjs-web/chromecom" shall not be used outside CHROME build.'
@@ -194,14 +197,10 @@ function requestAccessToLocalFile(fileUrl, overlayManager, callback) {
 
     // Use Chrome's definition of UI language instead of PDF.js's #lang=...,
     // because the shown string should match the UI at chrome://extensions.
-    // These strings are from chrome/app/resources/generated_resources_*.xtb.
-    const i18nFileAccessLabel = PDFJSDev.json(
-      "$ROOT/web/chrome-i18n-allow-access-to-file-urls.json"
-    )[chrome.i18n.getUILanguage?.()];
-
-    if (i18nFileAccessLabel) {
+    const lang = chrome.i18n.getUILanguage?.();
+    if (lang && i18nFileAccessLabels[lang]) {
       document.getElementById("chrome-file-access-label").textContent =
-        i18nFileAccessLabel;
+        i18nFileAccessLabels[lang];
     }
 
     const link = document.getElementById("chrome-link-to-extensions-page");