diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 11d38f41c1..5ad2db3649 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ for ARG in "$@"; do
             echo "** Distribution Compatibilities **"
             echo "--sdl12         : Build with SDL1.2 (requires if wx is linked against SDL1.2)"
             echo "--no-portaudio  : Skip portaudio for SPU2."
-            echo "--use-system-yaml  : Use the system version of yaml-cpp, if available."
+            echo "--use-system-yaml  : Use system rapidyaml library"
             echo
             echo "** Expert Developer option **"
             echo "--gtk2          : use GTK 2 instead of GTK 3"
diff --git a/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake b/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
index 850c92575c..593c5facd5 100644
--- a/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
+++ b/cmake/SearchForStuff.cmake
@@ -229,26 +229,21 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 if(USE_SYSTEM_YAML)
-	find_package(yaml-cpp "0.6.3" QUIET)
-	if(NOT yaml-cpp_FOUND)
-		message(STATUS "No system yaml-cpp was found")
+	find_package(ryml REQUIRED)
+	if(NOT ryml_FOUND)
+		message(STATUS "No system rapidyaml was found, using the submodule in the 3rdparty directory")
 		set(USE_SYSTEM_YAML OFF)
 	else()
-		message(STATUS "Found yaml-cpp: ${yaml-cpp_VERSION}")
-		message(STATUS "Note that the latest release of yaml-cpp is very outdated, and the bundled submodule in the repo has over a year of bug fixes and as such is preferred.")
+		message(STATUS "Found rapidyaml: ${rapidyaml_VERSION}")
 	endif()
 endif()
 
 if(NOT USE_SYSTEM_YAML)
-	if(EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/yaml-cpp/yaml-cpp/CMakeLists.txt")
-		message(STATUS "Using bundled yaml-cpp")
-		add_subdirectory(3rdparty/yaml-cpp/yaml-cpp EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-		if (NOT MSVC)
-			# Remove once https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp/pull/815 is merged
-			target_compile_options(yaml-cpp PRIVATE -Wno-shadow)
-		endif()
+	if(EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/rapidyaml/rapidyaml/CMakeLists.txt")
+		message(STATUS "Using bundled rapidyaml")
+		add_subdirectory(3rdparty/rapidyaml/rapidyaml EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 	else()
-		message(FATAL_ERROR "No bundled yaml-cpp was found")
+		message(FATAL_ERROR "No bundled rapidyaml was found")
 	endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/pcsx2/CMakeLists.txt b/pcsx2/CMakeLists.txt
index f32b0a9b48..c20b457c9f 100644
--- a/pcsx2/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/pcsx2/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1369,7 +1369,7 @@ target_link_libraries(PCSX2_FLAGS INTERFACE
 	common
 	glad
 	fmt::fmt
-	yaml-cpp
+	ryml
 	chdr-static
 	wxWidgets::all
 	ZLIB::ZLIB