diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 20d09f59b..076b7b8f5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ if meson.version().version_compare('>=0.58.0')
   devenv.set('PIPEWIRE_MODULE_DIR', pipewire_dep.get_variable(internal: 'moduledir'))
 
   devenv.set('SPA_PLUGIN_DIR', spa_dep.get_variable(internal: 'plugindir'))
-  devenv.set('SPA_DATA_DIR', srcdir / 'spa' / 'plugins')
+  devenv.set('SPA_DATA_DIR', spa_dep.get_variable(internal: 'datadir'))
 
   devenv.set('GST_PLUGIN_PATH', builddir / 'src'/ 'gst')
 
diff --git a/spa/meson.build b/spa/meson.build
index db99a1bd2..4ad37cdb4 100644
--- a/spa/meson.build
+++ b/spa/meson.build
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ spa_dep = declare_dependency(
     include_directories('include'),
   ],
   version : spaversion,
-  variables : { 'plugindir' : meson.current_build_dir() / 'plugins' }
+  variables : {
+    'plugindir' : meson.current_build_dir() / 'plugins',
+    'datadir' : meson.current_source_dir() / 'plugins',
+  },
 )
 
 meson.override_dependency('lib@0@'.format(spa_name), spa_dep)