diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fc73eb3a..1cfabb12 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "natsort>=5.5.0",
     "matplotlib>=3.1.1,!=3.3.0,!=3.3.1,!=3.3.2",
     "animatplot-ng>=0.4.2",
-    "netcdf4>=1.4.0",
+    "h5netcdf",
     "Pillow>=6.1.0",
 ]
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 1f8dbfff..73d9aefe 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ dask[array]>=2.10.0
 natsort>=5.5.0
 matplotlib>=3.1.1,!=3.3.0,!=3.3.1,!=3.3.2
 animatplot>=0.4.2
-netcdf4>=1.4.0
+h5netcdf
 Pillow>=6.1.0
 
 # Not required for Python>=3.8, but included because conda does not support
diff --git a/xbout/tests/conftest.py b/xbout/tests/conftest.py
index 99b3b016..1867f312 100644
--- a/xbout/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/xbout/tests/conftest.py
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ def create_example_grid_file_fci(tmp_path_factory):
 
     # Save
     filepath = save_dir.joinpath("fci.nc")
-    grid.to_netcdf(filepath, engine="netcdf4")
+    grid.to_netcdf(filepath, engine="h5netcdf")
 
     return filepath
 
diff --git a/xbout/tests/test_grid.py b/xbout/tests/test_grid.py
index 007733b4..87ff4a98 100644
--- a/xbout/tests/test_grid.py
+++ b/xbout/tests/test_grid.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def create_example_grid_file(tmp_path_factory):
 
     # Save
     filepath = save_dir.joinpath("grid.nc")
-    grid.to_netcdf(filepath, engine="netcdf4")
+    grid.to_netcdf(filepath, engine="h5netcdf")
 
     return filepath
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ def test_open_grid_extra_dims(self, create_example_grid_file, tmp_path_factory):
 
         dodgy_grid_directory = tmp_path_factory.mktemp("dodgy_grid")
         dodgy_grid_path = dodgy_grid_directory.joinpath("dodgy_grid.nc")
-        merge([example_grid, new_var]).to_netcdf(dodgy_grid_path, engine="netcdf4")
+        merge([example_grid, new_var]).to_netcdf(dodgy_grid_path, engine="h5netcdf")
 
         with pytest.warns(
             UserWarning, match="drop all variables containing " "the dimensions 'w'"
diff --git a/xbout/tests/test_load.py b/xbout/tests/test_load.py
index 20ddcae0..6b7ad323 100644
--- a/xbout/tests/test_load.py
+++ b/xbout/tests/test_load.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def test_check_extensions(tmp_path):
     example_nc_file.write_text("content_nc")
 
     filetype = _check_filetype(example_nc_file)
-    assert filetype == "netcdf4"
+    assert filetype == "h5netcdf"
 
     example_hdf5_file = files_dir.joinpath("example.h5netcdf")
     example_hdf5_file.write_text("content_hdf5")
diff --git a/xbout/utils.py b/xbout/utils.py
index 66e6439d..b4a00f31 100644
--- a/xbout/utils.py
+++ b/xbout/utils.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def _add_attrs_to_var(ds, varname, copy=False):
 
 def _check_filetype(path):
     if path.suffix == ".nc":
-        filetype = "netcdf4"
+        filetype = "h5netcdf"
     elif path.suffix == ".h5netcdf":
         filetype = "h5netcdf"
     elif path.suffix == ".bp":
diff --git a/xbout/xarraybackend.py b/xbout/xarraybackend.py
index 38f4d65c..6a9644c5 100644
--- a/xbout/xarraybackend.py
+++ b/xbout/xarraybackend.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """License:
-  Distributed under the OSI-approved Apache License, Version 2.0.  See
-  accompanying file Copyright.txt for details.
+Distributed under the OSI-approved Apache License, Version 2.0.  See
+accompanying file Copyright.txt for details.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations