diff --git a/internal/verifier/marshal.go b/internal/verifier/marshal.go
index cb83b46..1b23546 100644
--- a/internal/verifier/marshal.go
+++ b/internal/verifier/marshal.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
+	"reflect"
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -527,6 +529,106 @@ func exceptionsArray(runtime *goja.Runtime, exceptions []Exception) *goja.Object
 	return array
 }
 
+// traceValueMaxDepth bounds how far recordableValue walks. It mirrors
+// SANITIZE_MAX_DEPTH in pkg/spec/src/web-runtime.ts, whose sanitize does this
+// same job for the values the page reports, so both hosts record the same JSON
+// for the same extractor.
+const traceValueMaxDepth = 32
+
+// recordableValue rewrites an exported goja value into one json.Marshal
+// accepts. An accessibility element is a plain object carrying two host
+// functions (find/findAll); marshalling it fails on those alone, so the whole
+// element used to go unrecorded. Dropping them leaves the element's data (id,
+// text, desc, class, the flags, bounds, attrs), which is what a trace reader
+// wants and is a subset of the hierarchy the same step already records.
+//
+// ok is false for a value with no JSON form at all: callers drop that key from
+// its object, matching the web host, where a function-valued property is
+// skipped and a function inside an array stringifies to null.
+func recordableValue(value any, depth int, seen map[uintptr]bool) (any, bool) {
+	if value == nil {
+		return nil, true
+	}
+	switch typed := value.(type) {
+	case float64:
+		return finiteOrNull(typed), true
+	case float32:
+		return finiteOrNull(float64(typed)), true
+	}
+	reflected := reflect.ValueOf(value)
+	switch reflected.Kind() {
+	case reflect.Func:
+		return nil, false
+	case reflect.Map:
+		if reflected.Type().Key().Kind() != reflect.String || !holdsAny(reflected.Type().Elem()) {
+			return value, true
+		}
+		if depth >= traceValueMaxDepth || !firstVisit(reflected, seen) {
+			return nil, true
+		}
+		out := make(map[string]any, reflected.Len())
+		iterator := reflected.MapRange()
+		for iterator.Next() {
+			entry, ok := recordableValue(iterator.Value().Interface(), depth+1, seen)
+			if !ok {
+				continue
+			}
+			out[iterator.Key().String()] = entry
+		}
+		return out, true
+	case reflect.Slice, reflect.Array:
+		if !holdsAny(reflected.Type().Elem()) {
+			return value, true
+		}
+		if depth >= traceValueMaxDepth || !firstVisit(reflected, seen) {
+			return nil, true
+		}
+		out := make([]any, reflected.Len())
+		for index := range out {
+			entry, ok := recordableValue(reflected.Index(index).Interface(), depth+1, seen)
+			if !ok {
+				entry = nil
+			}
+			out[index] = entry
+		}
+		return out, true
+	default:
+		return value, true
+	}
+}
+
+// holdsAny reports whether a container's elements can hide a host function or
+// a cycle. Concretely typed containers ([]string, []byte, map[string]string)
+// can hold neither, and walking them would rewrite shapes json.Marshal already
+// handles, such as []byte's base64 form.
+func holdsAny(elem reflect.Type) bool {
+	return elem.Kind() == reflect.Interface
+}
+
+// firstVisit reports whether a container has not been walked yet, so a cyclic
+// value terminates. Empty containers are never recorded: they cannot close a
+// cycle, and Go may hand every one of them the same address.
+func firstVisit(container reflect.Value, seen map[uintptr]bool) bool {
+	if container.Kind() == reflect.Array || container.Len() == 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+	address := container.Pointer()
+	if seen[address] {
+		return false
+	}
+	seen[address] = true
+	return true
+}
+
+// finiteOrNull maps NaN and the infinities to JSON null, which is what
+// JSON.stringify does with them on the web host.
+func finiteOrNull(value float64) any {
+	if math.IsNaN(value) || math.IsInf(value, 0) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return value
+}
+
 func jsonToJSValue(runtime *goja.Runtime, raw json.RawMessage) (goja.Value, error) {
 	if len(raw) == 0 {
 		return goja.Undefined(), nil
diff --git a/internal/verifier/worker.go b/internal/verifier/worker.go
index b559ea7..2f68f0d 100644
--- a/internal/verifier/worker.go
+++ b/internal/verifier/worker.go
@@ -353,8 +353,14 @@ func (v *Verifier) PushSnapshot(input SnapshotInput) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("extractor %d: %w", index, err)
 		}
 		extractor.currentValue = newValue
+		encoded, err := encodeExtractorValue(newValue)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf(
+				"extractor %q: the value cannot be recorded in the trace: %w; return plain data instead",
+				extractor.name, err)
+		}
 		extractor.prev = extractor.curr
-		extractor.curr = encodeExtractorValue(newValue)
+		extractor.curr = encoded
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -369,19 +375,23 @@ func (v *Verifier) runExtractor(extractor *extractorState, state goja.Value) (go
 }
 
 // encodeExtractorValue produces a stable JSON encoding of an extractor's
-// current value for diff comparison. goja values that don't survive Export
-// (e.g. wrapped host functions) yield nil; callers treat nil as "unknown" and
-// emit no diff entry.
-func encodeExtractorValue(value goja.Value) []byte {
+// current value for diff comparison. Host functions, cycles and non-finite
+// numbers are projected away by recordableValue; anything still beyond JSON is
+// an error, never a silently dropped value, because an extractor missing from
+// the trace reads exactly like an extractor that never changed.
+func encodeExtractorValue(value goja.Value) ([]byte, error) {
 	if value == nil || goja.IsUndefined(value) || goja.IsNull(value) {
-		return []byte("null")
+		return []byte("null"), nil
 	}
-	exported := value.Export()
-	body, err := json.Marshal(exported)
+	recordable, ok := recordableValue(value.Export(), 0, map[uintptr]bool{})
+	if !ok {
+		return []byte("null"), nil
+	}
+	body, err := json.Marshal(recordable)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil
+		return nil, err
 	}
-	return body
+	return body, nil
 }
 
 // ChangedExtractors returns the named extractors whose value changed between
@@ -393,6 +403,8 @@ func encodeExtractorValue(value goja.Value) []byte {
 func (v *Verifier) ChangedExtractors() map[string]ExtractorChange {
 	changes := map[string]ExtractorChange{}
 	for _, extractor := range v.extractors {
+		// nil curr now means only that no snapshot has been pushed yet: an
+		// encoding that cannot be recorded fails PushSnapshot instead.
 		if extractor.curr == nil {
 			continue
 		}
@@ -453,7 +465,13 @@ func (v *Verifier) OverrideExtractorValues(overrides map[int]json.RawMessage) (s
 			return skipped, fmt.Errorf("extractor override %d: %w", index, conversionErr)
 		}
 		v.extractors[index].currentValue = value
-		v.extractors[index].curr = encodeExtractorValue(value)
+		encoded, encodeErr := encodeExtractorValue(value)
+		if encodeErr != nil {
+			return skipped, fmt.Errorf(
+				"extractor override %d (%q): the value cannot be recorded in the trace: %w",
+				index, v.extractors[index].name, encodeErr)
+		}
+		v.extractors[index].curr = encoded
 	}
 	return skipped, nil
 }
@@ -559,9 +577,8 @@ func (v *Verifier) captureWitness(name string) {
 	}
 }
 
-// extractorSnapshot encodes every named extractor's current value as JSON. A
-// nil value (extractor never advanced or its value did not survive Export)
-// is recorded as JSON null.
+// extractorSnapshot encodes every named extractor's current value as JSON. An
+// extractor that never advanced is recorded as JSON null.
 func (v *Verifier) extractorSnapshot() map[string]json.RawMessage {
 	if len(v.extractors) == 0 {
 		return nil