diff --git a/libretro/Makefile.common b/libretro/Makefile.common
index 752014e917..260aaa5ef8 100644
--- a/libretro/Makefile.common
+++ b/libretro/Makefile.common
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+HAVE_LIBRETRO_VFS ?= 1
+
 FFMPEGDIR		= $(CORE_DIR)/ffmpeg
 LIBRETRODIR		= $(CORE_DIR)/libretro
 COREDIR			= $(CORE_DIR)/Core
@@ -1120,7 +1122,7 @@ SOURCES_C += \
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(HAVE_LIBRETRO_VFS), 1)
-DEFINES += -DHAVE_LIBRETRO_VFS
+COREFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBRETRO_VFS
 SOURCES_C += $(LIBRETROCOMMONDIR)/compat/compat_posix_string.c \
              $(LIBRETROCOMMONDIR)/compat/fopen_utf8.c \
              $(LIBRETROCOMMONDIR)/compat/compat_strl.c \
diff --git a/libretro/jni/Android.mk b/libretro/jni/Android.mk
index f37ba11548..e17e48d363 100644
--- a/libretro/jni/Android.mk
+++ b/libretro/jni/Android.mk
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ CORE_DIR   := ../..
 FFMPEGDIR  := $(CORE_DIR)/ffmpeg
 FFMPEGLIBS += libavformat libavcodec libavutil libswresample libswscale
 WITH_DYNAREC := 1
-HAVE_LIBRETRO_VFS := 1
 
 ifeq ($(TARGET_ARCH),arm64)
   COREFLAGS += -D_ARCH_64