diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index e39631a1c..4c3b63be2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ jobs:
             batched: b8_AVX2,b8_AVX512,b16_AVX512
             setenvs: export LIBTIFF_VERSION=v4.7.1
                             PTEX_VERSION=v2.4.3
-                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.15
+                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.16
                             FREETYPE_VERSION=VER-2-14-3
           - desc: latest releases clang18/C++17 llvm18 oiio-rel exr3.4 py3.12 avx2 batch-b16avx512
             nametag: linux-latest-releases
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ jobs:
             batched: b8_AVX2,b8_AVX512,b16_AVX512
             setenvs: export LIBTIFF_VERSION=v4.7.1
                             PTEX_VERSION=v2.4.3
-                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.15
+                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.16
                             FREETYPE_VERSION=VER-2-14-3
           - desc: bleeding edge gcc14/C++17 llvm17 oiio/ocio/exr/pybind-main py3.12 avx2 batch-b16avx512
             nametag: linux-bleeding-edge
@@ -369,7 +369,6 @@ jobs:
             batched: b8_AVX2,b8_AVX512,b16_AVX512
             setenvs: export PUGIXML_VERSION=master
                             PTEX_VERSION=v2.4.3
-                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.15
                             FREETYPE_VERSION=VER-2-14-3
                             OpenImageIO_DEPENDENCY_BUILD_ALLOW_UNVERIFIED_TAGS=ON
           - desc: clang14/C++17 llvm14 py3.10 avx2 batch-b16avx512
@@ -556,7 +555,7 @@ jobs:
             openimageio_ver: release
             skip_tests: 1
             setenvs: export OSL_CMAKE_FLAGS="-DUSE_LLVM_BTCODE=ON"
-                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.14
+                            PUGIXML_VERSION=v1.16
                             OpenImageIO_BUILD_MISSING_DEPS="Freetype;TIFF;libdeflate;libjpeg-turbo"
                             LLVM_GOOGLE_DRIVE_ID="1uy7PNVlTQ-H56unXGOS6siRWtNcdS1J7"
 
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 71b9b216d..7db673488 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ NEW or CHANGED minimum dependencies since the last major release are **bold**.
   Note that on some MacOS/xcode releases, the system-installed Bison is too
   old, and it's better to install a newer Bison (via Homebrew is one way to
   do this easily).
-* [PugiXML](http://pugixml.org/) >= 1.8 (we have tested through 1.15).
+* [PugiXML](http://pugixml.org/) >= 1.8 (we have tested through 1.16).
 * (optional) [Partio](https://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/partio.html)
   If it is not found at build time, the OSL `pointcloud` functions will not
   be operative.
diff --git a/src/build-scripts/build_pugixml.bash b/src/build-scripts/build_pugixml.bash
index 579b78855..ea7069434 100755
--- a/src/build-scripts/build_pugixml.bash
+++ b/src/build-scripts/build_pugixml.bash
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ set -ex
 
 # Repo and branch/tag/commit of pugixml to download if we don't have it yet
 PUGIXML_REPO=${PUGIXML_REPO:=https://github.com/zeux/pugixml.git}
-PUGIXML_VERSION=${PUGIXML_VERSION:=v1.11.4}
+PUGIXML_VERSION=${PUGIXML_VERSION:=v1.16}
 
 LOCAL_DEPS_DIR=${LOCAL_DEPS_DIR:=${PWD}/ext}
 PUGIXML_SOURCE_DIR=${PUGIXML_SOURCE_DIR:=${LOCAL_DEPS_DIR}/pugixml}