diff --git a/crates/distribution-filename/Cargo.toml b/crates/distribution-filename/Cargo.toml
index 9c5708f9a..214bf7458 100644
--- a/crates/distribution-filename/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/distribution-filename/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pep440_rs = { path = "../pep440-rs" }
 platform-tags = { path = "../platform-tags" }
 puffin-normalize = { path = "../puffin-normalize" }
 
-serde = { workspace = true }
+serde = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 thiserror = { workspace = true }
 url = { workspace = true }
 
diff --git a/crates/distribution-filename/src/wheel.rs b/crates/distribution-filename/src/wheel.rs
index 6d5717456..ff0791477 100644
--- a/crates/distribution-filename/src/wheel.rs
+++ b/crates/distribution-filename/src/wheel.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
 use serde::{de, Deserialize, Deserializer, Serialize, Serializer};
 use std::fmt::{Display, Formatter};
 use std::str::FromStr;
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ impl TryFrom<&Url> for WheelFilename {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
 impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for WheelFilename {
     fn deserialize<D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Self, D::Error>
     where
@@ -178,6 +180,7 @@ impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for WheelFilename {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
 impl Serialize for WheelFilename {
     fn serialize<S>(&self, serializer: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error>
     where