diff --git a/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_linux.go b/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_linux.go
index ade194717..84f9f4af6 100644
--- a/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_linux.go
+++ b/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_linux.go
@@ -21,4 +21,6 @@ const (
 	// This will be based on the client compilation target, so take that into
 	// account when choosing this value.
 	DefaultSnapshotter = "overlayfs"
+	// DefaultDiffer will set the default differ for the platform.
+	DefaultDiffer = "walking"
 )
diff --git a/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_unix.go b/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_unix.go
index fc8b081ff..328b5eae6 100644
--- a/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_unix.go
+++ b/defaults/defaults_snapshotter_unix.go
@@ -23,4 +23,6 @@ const (
 	// This will be based on the client compilation target, so take that into
 	// account when choosing this value.
 	DefaultSnapshotter = "native"
+	// DefaultDiffer will set the default differ for the platform.
+	DefaultDiffer = "walking"
 )
diff --git a/plugins/transfer/plugin_defaults_other.go b/plugins/transfer/plugin_defaults_other.go
index 23b948eeb..90b0d2f5f 100644
--- a/plugins/transfer/plugin_defaults_other.go
+++ b/plugins/transfer/plugin_defaults_other.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ func defaultUnpackConfig() []unpackConfiguration {
 		{
 			Platform:    platforms.Format(platforms.DefaultSpec()),
 			Snapshotter: defaults.DefaultSnapshotter,
+			Differ:      defaults.DefaultDiffer,
 		},
 	}
 }