diff --git a/src/bin/wasmer.rs b/src/bin/wasmer.rs
index b1d414077..2f24548e3 100644
--- a/src/bin/wasmer.rs
+++ b/src/bin/wasmer.rs
@@ -317,7 +317,10 @@ fn execute_wasm(options: &Run) -> Result<(), String> {
 
     if !utils::is_wasm_binary(&wasm_binary) {
         let mut features = wabt::Features::new();
-        features.enable_simd();
+        if options.backend == Backend::LLVM {
+            // SIMD is only supported in the LLVM backend for now
+            features.enable_simd();
+        }
         wasm_binary = wabt::wat2wasm_with_features(wasm_binary, features)
             .map_err(|e| format!("Can't convert from wast to wasm: {:?}", e))?;
     }