diff --git a/python/swiftest/swiftest/io.py b/python/swiftest/swiftest/io.py
index ff456d0c1..6b66275b8 100644
--- a/python/swiftest/swiftest/io.py
+++ b/python/swiftest/swiftest/io.py
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ def swiftest2xr(param, verbose=True):
 
     elif ((param['OUT_TYPE'] == 'NETCDF_DOUBLE') or (param['OUT_TYPE'] == 'NETCDF_FLOAT')):
         if verbose: print('\nCreating Dataset from NetCDF file')
-        ds = xr.open_dataset(param['BIN_OUT'], mask_and_scale=False)
+        ds = xr.open_dataset(param['BIN_OUT'], mask_and_scale=False, engine='h5netcdf')
         ds = clean_string_values(ds)
     else:
         print(f"Error encountered. OUT_TYPE {param['OUT_TYPE']} not recognized.")