diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 53b9c83f9..441d65537 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Requires libvips v8.7.0.
 * Drop Node 4 support.
   [#1212](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/1212)
 
+* Enable SIMD convolution by default.
+  [#1213](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/1213)
+
 * Add experimental prebuilt binaries for musl-based Linux.
   [#1379](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/1379)
 
diff --git a/lib/utility.js b/lib/utility.js
index 1cb26a61b..83c06d149 100644
--- a/lib/utility.js
+++ b/lib/utility.js
@@ -82,23 +82,20 @@ function counters () {
  * Improves the performance of `resize`, `blur` and `sharpen` operations
  * by taking advantage of the SIMD vector unit of the CPU, e.g. Intel SSE and ARM NEON.
  *
- * This feature is currently off by default but future versions may reverse this.
- * Versions of liborc prior to 0.4.25 are known to segfault under heavy load.
- *
  * @example
  * const simd = sharp.simd();
- * // simd is `true` if SIMD is currently enabled
+ * // simd is `true` if the runtime use of liborc is currently enabled
  * @example
- * const simd = sharp.simd(true);
- * // attempts to enable the use of SIMD, returning true if available
+ * const simd = sharp.simd(false);
+ * // prevent libvips from using liborc at runtime
  *
- * @param {Boolean} [simd=false]
+ * @param {Boolean} [simd=true]
  * @returns {Boolean}
  */
 function simd (simd) {
   return sharp.simd(is.bool(simd) ? simd : null);
 }
-simd(false);
+simd(true);
 
 /**
  * Decorate the Sharp class with utility-related functions.
diff --git a/test/fixtures/expected/extract-lch.jpg b/test/fixtures/expected/extract-lch.jpg
index 8de27d15f..af8644dab 100644
Binary files a/test/fixtures/expected/extract-lch.jpg and b/test/fixtures/expected/extract-lch.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/unit/extract.js b/test/unit/extract.js
index c8aa4a421..9b9629f01 100644
--- a/test/unit/extract.js
+++ b/test/unit/extract.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ describe('Partial image extraction', function () {
         if (err) throw err;
         assert.strictEqual(280, info.width);
         assert.strictEqual(380, info.height);
-        fixtures.assertSimilar(fixtures.expected('rotate-extract.jpg'), data, { threshold: 6 }, done);
+        fixtures.assertSimilar(fixtures.expected('rotate-extract.jpg'), data, { threshold: 7 }, done);
       });
   });