Thanks for filing the issue!

@Reporter: Could you please share a sample test file/URL which helps us to triage the issue in a better way. Any further inputs from your end may help us.

Attached a shortened version of our json file. Here is the code from the section where the different behaviour occures.

$.ajax({
            url: chrome.runtime.getURL(self.getLocalizationBasePath() + self.getLocalization() + '/transifex.json'),
            success: function (result) {
                self.setLanguageConfig(JSON.parse(result));
            },
            error: function () {
                //DO STUFF
            }
        });

It is part of a chrome extension so "chrome.runtime.getURL(self.getLocalizationBasePath() + self.getLocalization() + '/transifex.json')" would point to the location of the file.

With Chrome on Mac the result variable would be of type object already and cause the JSON.parse(result) to fail.With Chrome on Windows result will be of type string. Nothing special.

Tried it on several MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs and different Windows Notebooks (win 10). I doubt it is hardware related tho.

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Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "vamshi.kommuri@techmahindra.com" to the cc list and removing "Needs-Feedback" label.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Tried to set up a fiddle.
https://jsfiddle.net/yoj5bhyj/
Here it seems that i get the same behaviour on my windows machine as the macs did in our extension.
The loaded file is already an object.

jQuery v3.1.1

It's if on mac the ajax call automatically add the "dataType: 'json'" parameter.

This behavior only happens in the extension, correct?

I'm guessing that the Windows machine you are using has a MIME type mapping for the .json file type that's not application/json, or perhaps it doesn't have a mapping at all.

File type lookups for files bundled with extensions are sensitive to local configuration.

See also  issue 797712 .

Unable to reproduce the issue on reported chrome version 63.0.3239.84 and on the latest canary 65.0.3312.0 using windows 10 with the below mentioned steps.
1. Launched chrome
2. Navigated to https://jsfiddle.net/yoj5bhyj/
3. Opened Dev tools>console
We are able to see the result as an object. Attaching the screen cast of the same.

@Reporter: Could you please check the screen cast and let us know if we have missed any steps. And please respond to comment#8.

Thanks!

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Sry I might have been a bit confusing. I got the same result in the fiddle as you.
The thing mentioned in Comment 8 might be the reason for the wierd behaviour. I can just reproduce the different result formats in chrome extensions.

Made a small test extension for you to try out. My console on windows looks like the screenshot.
In the example i have 2 ajax calls one with dataType specified and one without.

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Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "vamshi.kommuri@techmahindra.com" to the cc list and removing "Needs-Feedback" label.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Unable to reproduce the issue on chrome reported version 63.0.3239.84 and latest canary 65.0.3316.0 with steps mentioned below:
1) Launched chrome reported version and added extension provided in comment# 12
2) Navigated to fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/yoj5bhyj/
3) Open Devtools -> console, we are seeing output in the console as "request failed > Object"
Now we are seeing the same behaviour of the fiddle without adding the extension provided in comment# 12

@Reporter:
Please find the attached screen cast for your reference and let us know if we missed anything in reproducing the issue, please provide your inputs on it.

Thanks!

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Sry I was unclear once more. With the installed extension just open up any page that matches "https://mail.google.com/*" or "https://inbox.google.com/*
In the console drawer of the dev tools you should then hopefully be able to see the logs as in my screenshot.

1. install and enable the extension
2. navigate to "https://mail.google.com/"
3. if redirected to login page ("https://accounts.google.com") sign into any account ("https://accounts.google.com" not included for the content script, sry)
4. Opened Dev tools>console

Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "sc00335628@techmahindra.com" to the cc list and removing "Needs-Feedback" label.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

We are able to see a similar output with a slight difference in console as per attachment in comment#12 by reporter. Checked the issue on windows 10 on chrome version 63.0.3239.84 with the below mentioned steps.
1. Launched chrome
2. Downloaded/added extension
3. Navigated to https://mail.google.com/
4. Opened Dev Tools>Console
Attaching the screen shot for confirmation.

@Reporter:  We got the output result as "Object", Clearly shown/marked in attached file. Could you please have a look at the attachment and let us know whether that is the expected result or is it an issue.

Thanks!

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This is correct, the second part of the log should always be object (hence "should be object").

Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "vamshi.kommuri@techmahindra.com" to the cc list and removing "Needs-Feedback" label.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

@Reporter: Thanks for the confirmation given about the screen shot attached in comment#19. As the issue is not reproducible from TE end, hence removing Needs-Bisect label and requesting you to try the same issue on a fresh profile/new person. Please let us know if the issue still persists even after checking in a new profile.

Thanks! 

Merging into  issue 797712  which addresses the same root cause.