diff --git a/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/emscripten-download-monitor.ts b/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/emscripten-download-monitor.ts
index a398cdf477..275fd2d9d3 100644
--- a/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/emscripten-download-monitor.ts
+++ b/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/emscripten-download-monitor.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,16 @@ export class EmscriptenDownloadMonitor extends EventTarget {
 	async monitorFetch(fetchPromise: Promise<Response>): Promise<Response> {
 		const response = await fetchPromise;
 		const onProgress = (event: CustomEvent<DownloadProgress>) => {
-			this.#notify(response.url, event.detail.loaded, event.detail.total);
+			this.#setFileProgress(
+				response.url,
+				event.detail.loaded,
+				event.detail.total
+			);
+			this.dispatchEvent(
+				new CustomEvent('progress', {
+					detail: this.progress,
+				})
+			);
 		};
 		return cloneResponseMonitorProgress(response, onProgress);
 	}
@@ -62,7 +71,7 @@ export class EmscriptenDownloadMonitor extends EventTarget {
 	 * @param  loaded The number of bytes of that file loaded so far.
 	 * @param  fileSize  The total number of bytes in the loaded file.
 	 */
-	#notify(file: string, loaded: number, fileSize: number) {
+	#setFileProgress(file: string, loaded: number, fileSize: number) {
 		const fileName = new URL(file, 'http://example.com').pathname
 			.split('/')
 			.pop()!;
@@ -81,14 +90,13 @@ export class EmscriptenDownloadMonitor extends EventTarget {
 		}
 
 		this.#progress[fileName] = loaded;
-		this.dispatchEvent(
-			new CustomEvent('progress', {
-				detail: {
-					loaded: sumValues(this.#progress),
-					total: sumValues(this.#assetsSizes),
-				},
-			})
-		);
+	}
+
+	get progress() {
+		return {
+			loaded: sumValues(this.#progress),
+			total: sumValues(this.#assetsSizes),
+		};
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/progress-tracker.ts b/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/progress-tracker.ts
index 52dece074d..9113741275 100644
--- a/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/progress-tracker.ts
+++ b/packages/php-wasm/progress/src/lib/progress-tracker.ts
@@ -10,15 +10,17 @@ export interface ProgressTrackerOptions {
 	fillTime?: number;
 }
 
-/**
- * Custom event providing information about a loading process.
- */
-export type LoadingEvent = CustomEvent<{
+export type LoadingProgress = {
 	/** The number representing how much was loaded. */
 	loaded: number;
 	/** The number representing how much needs to loaded in total. */
 	total: number;
-}>;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Custom event providing information about a loading process.
+ */
+export type LoadingEvent = CustomEvent<LoadingProgress>;
 
 /**
  * Custom event providing progress details.
@@ -286,13 +288,8 @@ export class ProgressTracker extends EventTarget {
 		return this._progressObserver;
 	}
 
-	get loadingListener() {
-		if (!this._loadingListener) {
-			this._loadingListener = (event: LoadingEvent) => {
-				this.set((event.detail.loaded / event.detail.total) * 100);
-			};
-		}
-		return this._loadingListener;
+	setFromProgressDetails(details: LoadingProgress) {
+		this.set((details.loaded / details.total) * 100);
 	}
 
 	pipe(receiver: ProgressReceiver) {
diff --git a/packages/php-wasm/universal/src/lib/php-worker.ts b/packages/php-wasm/universal/src/lib/php-worker.ts
index 5d8c4e83d8..212232d158 100644
--- a/packages/php-wasm/universal/src/lib/php-worker.ts
+++ b/packages/php-wasm/universal/src/lib/php-worker.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { EmscriptenDownloadMonitor } from '@php-wasm/progress';
+import { EmscriptenDownloadMonitor, LoadingProgress } from '@php-wasm/progress';
 import { PHP } from './php';
 import { PHPRequestHandler } from './php-request-handler';
 import { PHPResponse } from './php-response';
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ export class PHPWorker implements LimitedPHPApi {
 			.requestHandler!.internalUrlToPath(internalUrl);
 	}
 
+	async getDownloadProgress(): Promise<LoadingProgress | undefined> {
+		return _private.get(this)!.monitor?.progress;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * The onDownloadProgress event listener.
 	 */
diff --git a/packages/playground/blueprints/src/lib/resources.ts b/packages/playground/blueprints/src/lib/resources.ts
index 8501740cc2..a742402642 100644
--- a/packages/playground/blueprints/src/lib/resources.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/blueprints/src/lib/resources.ts
@@ -219,7 +219,9 @@ export abstract class FetchResource extends Resource {
 			}
 			response = await cloneResponseMonitorProgress(
 				response,
-				this.progress?.loadingListener ?? noop
+				this.progress
+					? (e) => this.progress?.setFromProgressDetails(e.detail)
+					: noop
 			);
 			if (response.status !== 200) {
 				throw new Error(`Could not download "${url}"`);
diff --git a/packages/playground/client/src/index.ts b/packages/playground/client/src/index.ts
index 40ab5c5fb1..aa948264dc 100644
--- a/packages/playground/client/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/client/src/index.ts
@@ -182,8 +182,12 @@ async function doStartPlaygroundWeb(
 	) as PlaygroundClient;
 	await playground.isConnected();
 	progressTracker.pipe(playground);
+	const currentProgress = (await playground.getDownloadProgress())!;
 	const downloadPHPandWP = progressTracker.stage();
-	await playground.onDownloadProgress(downloadPHPandWP.loadingListener);
+	downloadPHPandWP.setFromProgressDetails(currentProgress);
+	await playground.onDownloadProgress((e) => {
+		downloadPHPandWP.setFromProgressDetails(e.detail);
+	});
 	await playground.isReady();
 	downloadPHPandWP.finish();
 	return playground;
diff --git a/packages/playground/remote/src/lib/worker-thread.ts b/packages/playground/remote/src/lib/worker-thread.ts
index 9c575b6c7f..cc1a4b81a6 100644
--- a/packages/playground/remote/src/lib/worker-thread.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/remote/src/lib/worker-thread.ts
@@ -366,21 +366,22 @@ try {
 				LOGGED_IN_SALT: randomString(40),
 				NONCE_SALT: randomString(40),
 		  };
-	const wordPressZip = wordPressAvailableInOPFS
-		? undefined
-		: new File([await (await wordPressRequest!).blob()], 'wp.zip');
-
-	const sqliteIntegrationPluginZip = new File(
-		[await (await sqliteIntegrationRequest).blob()],
-		'sqlite.zip'
-	);
 
 	const knownRemoteAssetPaths = new Set<string>();
 	const requestHandler = await bootWordPress({
 		siteUrl: setURLScope(wordPressSiteUrl, scope).toString(),
 		createPhpRuntime,
-		wordPressZip,
-		sqliteIntegrationPluginZip,
+		// Do not await the WordPress download or the sqlite integration download.
+		// Let bootWordPress start the PHP runtime download first, and then await
+		// all the ZIP files right before they're used.
+		wordPressZip: wordPressAvailableInOPFS
+			? undefined
+			: wordPressRequest!
+					.then((r) => r.blob())
+					.then((b) => new File([b], 'wp.zip')),
+		sqliteIntegrationPluginZip: sqliteIntegrationRequest
+			.then((r) => r.blob())
+			.then((b) => new File([b], 'sqlite.zip')),
 		spawnHandler: spawnHandlerFactory,
 		sapiName: startupOptions.sapiName,
 		constants,