diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openpmd-api/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openpmd-api/package.py
index fb9a3a76f434f7960647a6927d3072a4c22e8f2c..f18a153b2461c417ab831a87c67f0bf28d638d1c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openpmd-api/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openpmd-api/package.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ class OpenpmdApi(CMakePackage):
             description='Enable parallel I/O')
     variant('hdf5', default=True,
             description='Enable HDF5 support')
-    variant('adios1', default=False,
+    variant('adios1', default=True,
             description='Enable ADIOS1 support')
     variant('adios2', default=False,
             description='Enable ADIOS2 support')