diff --git a/protobuf.bzl b/protobuf.bzl
index 888e9787260c9..a41c8f8accdce 100644
--- a/protobuf.bzl
+++ b/protobuf.bzl
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ _proto_gen = rule(
             default = "all",
         ),
     },
-    output_to_genfiles = True,
     implementation = _proto_gen_impl,
 )