diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d868a4a6..b43af59f 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ for human readability.
 - The abstract interface `AbstractShallowWaterEquations` was added to unify several
   systems such as the `SerreGreenNaghdiEquations1D`, the `BBMBBMEquations1D`, and the
   `SvärdKalischEquations1D` ([#127]).
+- A new conversion function `prim2phys` was introduced, defaulting to `prim2prim`. `prim2phys` is the default conversion function for plotting.
 
 ## Changes when updating to v0.4 from v0.3.x
 
diff --git a/docs/src/overview.md b/docs/src/overview.md
index 30cb9eb2..521fa40d 100644
--- a/docs/src/overview.md
+++ b/docs/src/overview.md
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ always plot to first subplot) and `plot_initial`. You can also provide a `conver
 of the primitive variables `q` at one node, and the `equations` as input and should return an `SVector` of any length as output. For a user defined conversion function,
 there should also exist a function `varnames(conversion, equations)` that returns a `Tuple` of the variable names used for labelling. The conversion function can, e.g.,
 be [`prim2cons`](@ref) or [`waterheight_total`](@ref) if one only wants to plot the total water height. The resulting plot will have one subplot for each of the returned
-variables of the conversion variable. By default, the conversion function is just [`prim2prim`](@ref), i.e. the identity.
+variables of the conversion variable. By default, the conversion function is just [`prim2phys`](@ref), i.e., the identity for most equations.
 
 Plotting an animation over time can, e.g., be done by the following command, which uses `step` to plot the solution at a specific time step.
 
diff --git a/src/equations/equations.jl b/src/equations/equations.jl
index f081260e..92d66e2a 100644
--- a/src/equations/equations.jl
+++ b/src/equations/equations.jl
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ get_name(equations::AbstractEquations) = equations |> typeof |> nameof |> string
 
 Return the list of variable names when applying `conversion_function` to the
 conserved variables associated to `equations`.
-Common choices of the `conversion_function` are [`prim2prim`](@ref) and
-[`prim2cons`](@ref).
+Common choices of the `conversion_function` are [`prim2prim`](@ref),
+[`prim2cons`](@ref), and [`prim2phys`](@ref).
 """
 function varnames end
 
diff --git a/src/visualization.jl b/src/visualization.jl
index e4a51d44..5eaf136f 100644
--- a/src/visualization.jl
+++ b/src/visualization.jl
@@ -141,22 +141,22 @@ end
 end
 
 @recipe function f(semisol::Pair{<:Semidiscretization, <:ODESolution}; plot_initial = false,
-                   plot_bathymetry = true, conversion = prim2prim, step = -1)
+                   plot_bathymetry = true, conversion = prim2phys, step = -1)
     PlotData(semisol, plot_initial, plot_bathymetry, conversion, step)
 end
 
 @recipe function f(semi::Semidiscretization, sol::ODESolution; plot_initial = false,
-                   plot_bathymetry = true, conversion = prim2prim, step = -1)
+                   plot_bathymetry = true, conversion = prim2phys, step = -1)
     PlotData(semi => sol, plot_initial, plot_bathymetry, conversion, step)
 end
 
 @recipe function f(semisol::Pair{<:Semidiscretization, <:ODESolution}, x_value;
-                   conversion = prim2prim)
+                   conversion = prim2phys)
     PlotDataOverTime(semisol, x_value, conversion)
 end
 
 @recipe function f(semi::Semidiscretization, sol::ODESolution, x_value;
-                   conversion = prim2prim)
+                   conversion = prim2phys)
     PlotDataOverTime(semi => sol, x_value, conversion)
 end