diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
index 1b931222d9cc..23d38d7ef1f8 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2605.section.md
@@ -330,6 +330,8 @@ See <https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/481673>.
 
 - Budgie has been updated to 10.10, please check the [upstream announcement](https://buddiesofbudgie.org/blog/budgie-10-10-released) for more details.
 
+- `fonts.fontconfig.useEmbeddedBitmaps` is now set to `true` by default.
+
 - `stestrCheckHook` was added: This test hook runs `stestr run`. You can disable tests with `disabledTests` and `disabledTestsRegex`.
 
 - `services.frp` now supports multiple instances through `services.frp.instances` to make it possible to run multiple frp clients or servers at the same time.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix b/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
index 419de1a89fa8..9316b739fda2 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/fonts/fontconfig.nix
@@ -518,7 +518,8 @@ in
 
         useEmbeddedBitmaps = lib.mkOption {
           type = lib.types.bool;
-          default = false;
+          default = lib.versionAtLeast config.system.stateVersion "26.05";
+          defaultText = lib.literalExpression "lib.versionAtLeast config.system.stateVersion \"26.05\"";
           description = "Use embedded bitmaps in fonts like Calibri.";
         };