diff --git a/audformat/core/database.py b/audformat/core/database.py
index 2772f0a4..4162785d 100644
--- a/audformat/core/database.py
+++ b/audformat/core/database.py
@@ -970,7 +970,7 @@ def save(
         *,
         name: str = "db",
         indent: int = 2,
-        storage_format: str = define.TableStorageFormat.CSV,
+        storage_format: str = define.TableStorageFormat.PARQUET,
         update_other_formats: bool = True,
         header_only: bool = False,
         num_workers: typing.Optional[int] = 1,
diff --git a/audformat/core/table.py b/audformat/core/table.py
index 3c9c21fe..55977d83 100644
--- a/audformat/core/table.py
+++ b/audformat/core/table.py
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ def save(
         self,
         path: str,
         *,
-        storage_format: str = define.TableStorageFormat.CSV,
+        storage_format: str = define.TableStorageFormat.PARQUET,
         update_other_formats: bool = True,
     ):
         r"""Save table data to disk.