diff --git a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.mocks.ts b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.mocks.ts
index 1a019ef6ee00..e67a5666180e 100644
--- a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.mocks.ts
+++ b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.mocks.ts
@@ -321,7 +321,13 @@ export const defaultProps: ReferencesPanelProps = {
     telemetryService: NOOP_TELEMETRY_SERVICE,
     settingsCascade: {
         subjects: null,
-        final: null,
+        final: {
+            // TODO: we won't need to set experimental features explicitly once we cover CodeMirror side blob view with tests:
+            // https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/issues/48049
+            experimentalFeatures: {
+                enableCodeMirrorFileView: false,
+            },
+        },
     },
     platformContext: NOOP_PLATFORM_CONTEXT as any,
     isLightTheme: false,
diff --git a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.test.tsx b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.test.tsx
index 1014d421319b..91eb8a9ac103 100644
--- a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.test.tsx
+++ b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.test.tsx
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import { MockedTestProvider, waitForNextApolloResponse } from '@sourcegraph/shar
 import '@sourcegraph/shared/dev/mockReactVisibilitySensor'
 import { renderWithBrandedContext } from '@sourcegraph/wildcard/src/testing'
 
+import { setExperimentalFeaturesFromSettings } from '../stores'
+
 import { ReferencesPanel } from './ReferencesPanel'
 import { buildReferencePanelMocks, defaultProps } from './ReferencesPanel.mocks'
 
@@ -11,6 +13,10 @@ describe('ReferencesPanel', () => {
     async function renderReferencesPanel() {
         const { url, requestMocks } = buildReferencePanelMocks()
 
+        // TODO: we won't need to set experimental features explicitly once we cover CodeMirror side blob view with tests:
+        // https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/issues/48049
+        setExperimentalFeaturesFromSettings(defaultProps.settingsCascade)
+
         const result = renderWithBrandedContext(
             <MockedTestProvider mocks={requestMocks}>
                 <ReferencesPanel {...defaultProps} />
diff --git a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.tsx b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.tsx
index b459709ecd39..f3fbe4bf11fc 100644
--- a/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.tsx
+++ b/client/web/src/codeintel/ReferencesPanel.tsx
@@ -695,7 +695,7 @@ function parseSideBlobProps(
 }
 
 const SideBlob: React.FunctionComponent<React.PropsWithChildren<SideBlobProps>> = props => {
-    const useCodeMirror = useExperimentalFeatures(features => features.enableCodeMirrorFileView ?? false)
+    const useCodeMirror = useExperimentalFeatures(features => features.enableCodeMirrorFileView ?? true)
     const BlobComponent = useCodeMirror ? CodeMirrorBlob : LegacyBlob
 
     const highlightFormat = useCodeMirror ? HighlightResponseFormat.JSON_SCIP : HighlightResponseFormat.HTML_HIGHLIGHT
diff --git a/client/web/src/repo/blob/backend.ts b/client/web/src/repo/blob/backend.ts
index c55a3455c4d5..591f0dfc420a 100644
--- a/client/web/src/repo/blob/backend.ts
+++ b/client/web/src/repo/blob/backend.ts
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ export const fetchBlob = memoizeObservable((options: FetchBlobOptions): Observab
  * Note: This format should match the format used when the blob is 'normally' fetched. E.g. in `BlobPage.tsx`.
  */
 export const usePrefetchBlobFormat = (): HighlightResponseFormat => {
-    const enableCodeMirror = useExperimentalFeatures(features => features.enableCodeMirrorFileView ?? false)
+    const enableCodeMirror = useExperimentalFeatures(features => features.enableCodeMirrorFileView ?? true)
     const enableLazyHighlighting = useExperimentalFeatures(
         features => features.enableLazyBlobSyntaxHighlighting ?? false
     )