diff --git a/schema/field/v1.json b/schema/field/v1.json
index 3483d27..0675591 100644
--- a/schema/field/v1.json
+++ b/schema/field/v1.json
@@ -102,6 +102,6 @@
       "type": "string"
     }
   },
-  "required": ["tagKey", "type", "label", "schemaName", "universal"],
+  "required": ["tagKey", "type", "label", "schemaName"],
   "additionalProperties": false
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/encode-conversions.ts b/src/lib/encode-conversions.ts
index 5ddf86e..2cd7342 100644
--- a/src/lib/encode-conversions.ts
+++ b/src/lib/encode-conversions.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ export const convertField: ConvertFunction<'field'> = (mapeoDoc) => {
           }
         })
       : [],
+    universal: Boolean(mapeoDoc.universal),
   }
 }