diff --git a/src/bob/bio/base/database/utils.py b/src/bob/bio/base/database/utils.py
index 20060362ec071aa6c9573d21532141039dd8bcc7..75aa669dd47381f6af88a3ad77fe1398bcb9fdc2 100644
--- a/src/bob/bio/base/database/utils.py
+++ b/src/bob/bio/base/database/utils.py
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ def download_file(
     destination_filename: Union[str, None] = None,
     checksum: Union[str, None] = None,
     checksum_fct: Callable[[Any, int], str] = sha256_hash,
-    force: bool = True,
+    force: bool = False,
     extract: bool = False,
     makedirs: bool = True,
 ) -> Path: