diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 4e97bb525..6e8b7f6f5 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,39 @@
+# PipeWire 1.6.2 (2026-03-16)
+
+This is a bugfix release that is API and ABI compatible with the previous
+1.6.x releases.
+
+## Highlights
+  - Fix a potential crash when the wrong memory was freed.
+  - Fix a optimization with shared memory over some links that could
+    cause errors later on.
+  - Fix SOFA filter and default control input in LADSPA and LV2.
+  - Some other small fixes and improvements.
+
+
+## PipeWire
+  - Remove an optimization to skip share mem in links, it causes problems
+    later on. (#5159)
+
+## Modules
+  - Don't try to free invalid memory or close invalid fds when the client
+    aborted before allocating buffer memory. (#5162)
+
+## SPA
+  - support ACP_IGNORE_DB in udev.
+  - Use 0x as a prefix for hex values.
+  - Mark Props as write-only in libcamera.
+  - Small optimization in the audio mixer.
+  - Fix initialization of control properties for SOFA and biquads in the
+    filter-graph. (#5152)
+  - Fix min/max default values for LADSPA and LV2.
+
+## JACK
+  - Fix jack_port_type_id(). Return values that are compatible with JACK1/2.
+
+
+Older versions:
+
 # PipeWire 1.6.1 (2026-03-09)
 
 This is a bugfix release that is API and ABI compatible with the previous
@@ -28,8 +64,6 @@ This is a bugfix release that is API and ABI compatible with the previous
 ## Tools
   - Fix playback of encoded formats. (#5155)
 
-Older versions:
-
 # PipeWire 1.6.0 (2026-02-19)
 
 This is the 1.6 release that is API and ABI compatible with previous
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4816834bb..536502a68 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('pipewire', ['c' ],
-  version : '1.6.1',
+  version : '1.6.2',
   license : [ 'MIT', 'LGPL-2.1-or-later', 'GPL-2.0-only' ],
   meson_version : '>= 0.61.1',
   default_options : [ 'warning_level=3',