diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 45f019a..c32ced0 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -43,5 +43,5 @@ RoxygenNote: 7.1.2
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
 URL: https://vdiffr.r-lib.org/, https://github.com/r-lib/vdiffr
 BugReports: https://github.com/r-lib/vdiffr/issues
-SystemRequirements: C++14, libpng
+SystemRequirements: C++11, libpng
 Config/Needs/website: tidyverse/tidytemplate
diff --git a/src/Makevars b/src/Makevars
index ecdec04..34d0220 100644
--- a/src/Makevars
+++ b/src/Makevars
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-CXX_STD = CXX14
+CXX_STD = CXX11
 
 PKG_LIBS = -lpng -lz
diff --git a/src/Makevars.ucrt b/src/Makevars.ucrt
index 9b20049..52910e3 100644
--- a/src/Makevars.ucrt
+++ b/src/Makevars.ucrt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-CXX_STD = CXX14
+CXX_STD = CXX11
 
 CRT = -ucrt
 include Makevars.win
diff --git a/src/Makevars.win b/src/Makevars.win
index fa425d4..4cff4b0 100644
--- a/src/Makevars.win
+++ b/src/Makevars.win
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-CXX_STD = CXX14
+CXX_STD = CXX11
 
 VERSION = 2.7.4
 RWINLIB = ../windows/harfbuzz-${VERSION}