diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/cxxreact/JSBigString.h b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/cxxreact/JSBigString.h
index 3668b3254625..a2365dee8962 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/cxxreact/JSBigString.h
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/cxxreact/JSBigString.h
@@ -140,6 +140,11 @@ class RN_EXPORT JSBigFileString : public JSBigString {
   size_t size() const override;
   int fd() const;
 
+  // Throws std::runtime_error when the file at sourceURL cannot be opened or
+  // read (e.g. it is missing). Callers that load files which may legitimately
+  // be gone at load time (such as an OS-purgeable / LRU-evictable cache) must
+  // catch this and degrade gracefully rather than let it surface as an
+  // unhandled exception.
   static std::unique_ptr<const JSBigFileString> fromPath(const std::string &sourceURL);
 
  private:
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/ReactInstance.cpp b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/ReactInstance.cpp
index e6b8f129d5f4..288bde9d70f6 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/ReactInstance.cpp
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/runtime/ReactInstance.cpp
@@ -378,26 +378,39 @@ void ReactInstance::registerSegment(
     const std::string& segmentPath) {
   LOG(WARNING) << "Starting to run ReactInstance::registerSegment with segment "
                << segmentId;
-  runtimeScheduler_->scheduleWork([=](jsi::Runtime& runtime) {
-    TraceSection s("ReactInstance::registerSegment");
-    auto tag = std::to_string(segmentId);
-    auto script = JSBigFileString::fromPath(segmentPath);
-    if (script->size() == 0) {
-      throw std::invalid_argument(
-          "Empty segment registered with ID " + tag + " from " + segmentPath);
-    }
-
-    ReactMarker::logTaggedMarker(
-        ReactMarker::REGISTER_JS_SEGMENT_START, tag.c_str());
-    LOG(WARNING) << "Starting to evaluate segment " << segmentId
-                 << " in ReactInstance::registerSegment";
-    runtime.evaluateJavaScript(
-        std::move(script), getSyntheticBundlePath(segmentId));
-    LOG(WARNING) << "Finished evaluating segment " << segmentId
-                 << " in ReactInstance::registerSegment";
-    ReactMarker::logTaggedMarker(
-        ReactMarker::REGISTER_JS_SEGMENT_STOP, tag.c_str());
-  });
+  // Build the segment buffer off the JS thread: there's no need to block the
+  // JS thread on file I/O. The segment lives in an OS-purgeable /
+  // LRU-evictable on-demand cache and can already be gone by the time we get
+  // here, in which case fromPath throws. Catch it and return early so a
+  // missing segment degrades gracefully instead of surfacing as an unhandled
+  // exception.
+  std::shared_ptr<const JSBigFileString> script;
+  try {
+    script = JSBigFileString::fromPath(segmentPath);
+  } catch (const std::exception& e) {
+    LOG(ERROR) << "ReactInstance::registerSegment - could not load segment "
+               << segmentId << " from " << segmentPath << ": " << e.what();
+    return;
+  }
+  if (script->size() == 0) {
+    throw std::invalid_argument(
+        "Empty segment registered with ID " + std::to_string(segmentId) +
+        " from " + segmentPath);
+  }
+  runtimeScheduler_->scheduleWork(
+      [script = std::move(script), segmentId](jsi::Runtime& runtime) {
+        TraceSection s("ReactInstance::registerSegment");
+        auto tag = std::to_string(segmentId);
+        ReactMarker::logTaggedMarker(
+            ReactMarker::REGISTER_JS_SEGMENT_START, tag.c_str());
+        LOG(WARNING) << "Starting to evaluate segment " << segmentId
+                     << " in ReactInstance::registerSegment";
+        runtime.evaluateJavaScript(script, getSyntheticBundlePath(segmentId));
+        LOG(WARNING) << "Finished evaluating segment " << segmentId
+                     << " in ReactInstance::registerSegment";
+        ReactMarker::logTaggedMarker(
+            ReactMarker::REGISTER_JS_SEGMENT_STOP, tag.c_str());
+      });
 }
 
 namespace {