diff --git a/render/Cargo.toml b/render/Cargo.toml
index ac9373df7..8a2ac32ba 100644
--- a/render/Cargo.toml
+++ b/render/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ lyon_geom = "1.0.5"
 thiserror = { workspace = true }
 wasm-bindgen = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 enum-map = { workspace = true }
-serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
+serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"], optional = true }
 clap = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 h263-rs-yuv = { git = "https://github.com/ruffle-rs/h263-rs", rev = "f0fa94c366a1d0383df99aa835add175658d6bad"}
 num-traits = { workspace = true }
@@ -50,3 +50,4 @@ default = []
 tessellator = ["lyon"]
 web = ["wasm-bindgen"]
 wgpu = ["dep:wgpu"]
+serde = ["dep:serde"]
diff --git a/render/src/backend.rs b/render/src/backend.rs
index b493ce136..683dbd230 100644
--- a/render/src/backend.rs
+++ b/render/src/backend.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ use crate::quality::StageQuality;
 use crate::shape_utils::DistilledShape;
 use downcast_rs::{impl_downcast, Downcast};
 use ruffle_wstr::WStr;
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::borrow::Cow;
 use std::cell::RefCell;
 use std::fmt::Debug;
@@ -533,8 +532,9 @@ pub struct ShapeHandle(pub Arc<dyn ShapeHandleImpl>);
 pub trait ShapeHandleImpl: Downcast + Debug {}
 impl_downcast!(ShapeHandleImpl);
 
-#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize)]
-#[serde(deny_unknown_fields)]
+#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug)]
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize))]
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", serde(deny_unknown_fields))]
 pub struct ViewportDimensions {
     /// The dimensions of the stage's containing viewport.
     pub width: u32,
diff --git a/tests/framework/Cargo.toml b/tests/framework/Cargo.toml
index e13bc2a09..7b48703f4 100644
--- a/tests/framework/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tests/framework/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ workspace = true
 
 [dependencies]
 ruffle_core = { path = "../../core", features = ["deterministic", "timeline_debug", "avm_debug", "audio", "mp3", "default_font"] }
-ruffle_render = { path = "../../render" }
+ruffle_render = { path = "../../render", features = ["serde"] }
 ruffle_input_format = { path = "../input-format" }
 ruffle_socket_format = { path = "../socket-format" }
 ruffle_video_software = { path = "../../video/software", optional = true }