diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 4a46eac..cc016e4 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 2.1.3 and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 2.4.1 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "certifi"
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ description = "XML bomb protection for Python stdlib modules"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*"
 groups = ["main"]
+markers = "python_version < \"3.11\""
 files = [
     {file = "defusedxml-0.7.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:a352e7e428770286cc899e2542b6cdaedb2b4953ff269a210103ec58f6198a61"},
     {file = "defusedxml-0.7.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:1bb3032db185915b62d7c6209c5a8792be6a32ab2fedacc84e01b52c51aa3e69"},
@@ -535,4 +536,4 @@ zstd = ["zstandard (>=0.18.0)"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.1"
 python-versions = ">=3.8,<3.15"
-content-hash = "34bdc0ef7b905a807195902bdfdd5db84e0bc5ccd0f6cb1883c35004a6e06dd6"
+content-hash = "2e9a28545c18350c0021dd090ea3e8c8ea1b36df1a67557dcaed2261baa0eacb"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d0bec13..84945f7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ precommit.shell = "poe format && poe lint && poe coverage"
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
 python = ">=3.8,<3.15"
 requests = "*"
-defusedxml = "^0.7.1"
+defusedxml = { version = "^0.7.1", python = "<3.11" }
 
 [tool.poetry.group.test]
 optional = true
@@ -93,4 +93,4 @@ exclude_lines = [
     "@abstractclassmethod",
     "@abstractstaticmethod"
 ]
-show_missing = true
\ No newline at end of file
+show_missing = true
diff --git a/youtube_transcript_api/_transcripts.py b/youtube_transcript_api/_transcripts.py
index 55baa42..3671c5a 100644
--- a/youtube_transcript_api/_transcripts.py
+++ b/youtube_transcript_api/_transcripts.py
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
 from enum import Enum
 from itertools import chain
+import sys
 
 from html import unescape
 from typing import List, Dict, Iterator, Iterable, Pattern, Optional
 
-from defusedxml import ElementTree
+if sys.version_info < (3, 11):
+    from defusedxml import ElementTree
+else:
+    from xml.etree import ElementTree
 
 import re
 
diff --git a/youtube_transcript_api/test/test_api.py b/youtube_transcript_api/test/test_api.py
index 6006034..4c786d8 100644
--- a/youtube_transcript_api/test/test_api.py
+++ b/youtube_transcript_api/test/test_api.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+import importlib
 import pytest
 import os
+import sys
+import types
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest import TestCase
 from unittest.mock import patch
@@ -7,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import requests
 import responses
+import youtube_transcript_api._transcripts as transcripts_module
 
 from youtube_transcript_api import (
     YouTubeTranscriptApi,
@@ -97,6 +101,41 @@ def test_fetch(self):
             self.ref_transcript,
         )
 
+    def test_fetch__uses_expected_xml_backend_for_python_version(self):
+        expected_backend = (
+            "defusedxml.ElementTree"
+            if sys.version_info < (3, 11)
+            else "xml.etree.ElementTree"
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(transcripts_module.ElementTree.__name__, expected_backend)
+
+    def test_fetch__uses_defusedxml_backend_for_python_3_10_and_older(self):
+        fake_element_tree = object()
+        fake_defusedxml = types.ModuleType("defusedxml")
+        fake_defusedxml.ElementTree = fake_element_tree
+
+        with patch.object(sys, "version_info", (3, 10)):
+            with patch.dict(sys.modules, {"defusedxml": fake_defusedxml}):
+                spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+                    "youtube_transcript_api._transcripts_py310",
+                    transcripts_module.__file__,
+                )
+                reloaded_module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+                spec.loader.exec_module(reloaded_module)
+
+        self.assertIs(reloaded_module.ElementTree, fake_element_tree)
+
+    def test_fetch__uses_stdlib_xml_backend_for_python_3_11_and_newer(self):
+        with patch.object(sys, "version_info", (3, 11)):
+            spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+                "youtube_transcript_api._transcripts_py311", transcripts_module.__file__
+            )
+            reloaded_module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+            spec.loader.exec_module(reloaded_module)
+
+        self.assertEqual(reloaded_module.ElementTree.__name__, "xml.etree.ElementTree")
+
     def test_fetch_formatted(self):
         transcript = YouTubeTranscriptApi().fetch(
             "GJLlxj_dtq8", preserve_formatting=True