diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0d6fa9efe4e9917cb649a358d47dc4ce368fba8d..a142cf576eeee80f99185b2d8bcce040358bacbb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ option(DD4HEP_USE_GEANT4  "Enable the simulation part based on Geant4"    OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_IGNORE_GEANT4_TLS "Ignore the tls flag Geant4 was compiled with" OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_USE_GEAR    "Build gear wrapper for backward compatibility" OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_USE_LCIO    "Build lcio extensions"                         OFF)
-option(DD4HEP_USE_EDM4HEP "Build edm4hep extensions"                      ON)
+option(DD4HEP_USE_EDM4HEP "Build edm4hep extensions"                      OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_USE_HEPMC3  "Build hepmc3 extensions"                       OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_USE_TBB     "Build features that require TBB"               OFF)
 option(DD4HEP_LOAD_ASSIMP "Download and build ASSIMP from github"         OFF)