diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/reporter/spec.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/reporter/spec.js
index 75b4d9773c4161..b93405872f278c 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/reporter/spec.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/reporter/spec.js
@@ -14,19 +14,11 @@ const {
 const assert = require('assert');
 const Transform = require('internal/streams/transform');
 const { inspectWithNoCustomRetry } = require('internal/errors');
-const { green, blue, red, white, gray, shouldColorize } = require('internal/util/colors');
+const colors = require('internal/util/colors');
 const { kSubtestsFailed } = require('internal/test_runner/test');
 const { getCoverageReport } = require('internal/test_runner/utils');
 const { relative } = require('path');
 
-const inspectOptions = { __proto__: null, colors: shouldColorize(process.stdout), breakLength: Infinity };
-
-const colors = {
-  '__proto__': null,
-  'test:fail': red,
-  'test:pass': green,
-  'test:diagnostic': blue,
-};
 const symbols = {
   '__proto__': null,
   'test:fail': '\u2716 ',
@@ -42,9 +34,19 @@ class SpecReporter extends Transform {
   #indentMemo = new SafeMap();
   #failedTests = [];
   #cwd = process.cwd();
+  #inspectOptions;
+  #colors;
 
   constructor() {
     super({ __proto__: null, writableObjectMode: true });
+    colors.refresh();
+    this.#inspectOptions = { __proto__: null, colors: colors.shouldColorize(process.stdout), breakLength: Infinity };
+    this.#colors = {
+      '__proto__': null,
+      'test:fail': colors.red,
+      'test:pass': colors.green,
+      'test:diagnostic': colors.blue,
+    };
   }
 
   #indent(nesting) {
@@ -62,15 +64,15 @@ class SpecReporter extends Transform {
     const message = ArrayPrototypeJoin(
       RegExpPrototypeSymbolSplit(
         hardenRegExp(/\r?\n/),
-        inspectWithNoCustomRetry(err, inspectOptions),
+        inspectWithNoCustomRetry(err, this.#inspectOptions),
       ), `\n${indent}  `);
     return `\n${indent}  ${message}\n`;
   }
   #formatTestReport(type, data, prefix = '', indent = '', hasChildren = false) {
-    let color = colors[type] ?? white;
+    let color = this.#colors[type] ?? colors.white;
     let symbol = symbols[type] ?? ' ';
     const { skip, todo } = data;
-    const duration_ms = data.details?.duration_ms ? ` ${gray}(${data.details.duration_ms}ms)${white}` : '';
+    const duration_ms = data.details?.duration_ms ? ` ${colors.gray}(${data.details.duration_ms}ms)${colors.white}` : '';
     let title = `${data.name}${duration_ms}`;
 
     if (skip !== undefined) {
@@ -82,13 +84,13 @@ class SpecReporter extends Transform {
     if (hasChildren) {
       // If this test has had children - it was already reported, so slightly modify the output
       const err = data.details?.error?.failureType === 'subtestsFailed' ? '' : error;
-      return `${prefix}${indent}${color}${symbols['arrow:right']}${white}${title}\n${err}`;
+      return `${prefix}${indent}${color}${symbols['arrow:right']}${colors.white}${title}\n${err}`;
     }
     if (skip !== undefined) {
-      color = gray;
+      color = colors.gray;
       symbol = symbols['hyphen:minus'];
     }
-    return `${prefix}${indent}${color}${symbol}${title}${white}${error}`;
+    return `${prefix}${indent}${color}${symbol}${title}${colors.white}${error}`;
   }
   #handleTestReportEvent(type, data) {
     const subtest = ArrayPrototypeShift(this.#stack); // This is the matching `test:start` event
@@ -130,9 +132,9 @@ class SpecReporter extends Transform {
       case 'test:stdout':
         return data.message;
       case 'test:diagnostic':
-        return `${colors[type]}${this.#indent(data.nesting)}${symbols[type]}${data.message}${white}\n`;
+        return `${this.#colors[type]}${this.#indent(data.nesting)}${symbols[type]}${data.message}${colors.white}\n`;
       case 'test:coverage':
-        return getCoverageReport(this.#indent(data.nesting), data.summary, symbols['test:coverage'], blue, true);
+        return getCoverageReport(this.#indent(data.nesting), data.summary, symbols['test:coverage'], colors.blue, true);
     }
   }
   _transform({ type, data }, encoding, callback) {
@@ -143,7 +145,7 @@ class SpecReporter extends Transform {
       callback(null, '');
       return;
     }
-    const results = [`\n${colors['test:fail']}${symbols['test:fail']}failing tests:${white}\n`];
+    const results = [`\n${this.#colors['test:fail']}${symbols['test:fail']}failing tests:${colors.white}\n`];
     for (let i = 0; i < this.#failedTests.length; i++) {
       const test = this.#failedTests[i];
       const relPath = relative(this.#cwd, test.file);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/arbitrary-output-colored.js b/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/arbitrary-output-colored.js
index b09eeeb9971cf6..af23e674cb361e 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/arbitrary-output-colored.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/arbitrary-output-colored.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const fixtures = require('../../../common/fixtures');
 
 (async function run() {
   const test = fixtures.path('test-runner/output/arbitrary-output-colored-1.js');
-  await once(spawn(process.execPath, ['--test', test], { stdio: 'inherit', env: { FORCE_COLOR: 1 } }), 'exit');
-  await once(spawn(process.execPath, ['--test', '--test-reporter', 'tap', test], { stdio: 'inherit', env: { FORCE_COLOR: 1 }  }), 'exit');
+  const reset = fixtures.path('test-runner/output/reset-color-depth.js');
+  await once(spawn(process.execPath, ['-r', reset, '--test', test], { stdio: 'inherit' }), 'exit');
+  await once(spawn(process.execPath, ['-r', reset, '--test', '--test-reporter', 'tap', test], { stdio: 'inherit'  }), 'exit');
 })().then(common.mustCall());
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/reset-color-depth.js b/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/reset-color-depth.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..02c04b247ad4d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-runner/output/reset-color-depth.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Make tests OS-independent by overriding stdio getColorDepth().
+process.stdout.getColorDepth = () => 8;
+process.stderr.getColorDepth = () => 8;