diff --git a/changelog/7443.improvement.rst b/changelog/7443.improvement.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2e5d2c981c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/7443.improvement.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Detect if running on GitHub Actions and enable colors by default.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/_io/terminalwriter.py b/src/_pytest/_io/terminalwriter.py
index 70bb2e2dcd6..1823d5c1e0d 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/_io/terminalwriter.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/_io/terminalwriter.py
@@ -27,11 +27,10 @@ def should_do_markup(file: TextIO) -> bool:
         return True
     if os.environ.get("PY_COLORS") == "0":
         return False
+    if os.environ.get("GITHUB_ACTIONS") == "true":
+        return True
     return (
-        hasattr(file, "isatty")
-        and file.isatty()
-        and os.environ.get("TERM") != "dumb"
-        and not (sys.platform.startswith("java") and os._name == "nt")
+        hasattr(file, "isatty") and file.isatty() and os.environ.get("TERM") != "dumb"
     )
 
 
diff --git a/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py b/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
index 94cff307fcd..402e7e881d4 100644
--- a/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
+++ b/testing/io/test_terminalwriter.py
@@ -154,8 +154,7 @@ def test_attr_hasmarkup() -> None:
     assert "\x1b[0m" in s
 
 
-def test_should_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_1(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
-    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "PY_COLORS", "1")
+def assert_color_set():
     file = io.StringIO()
     tw = terminalwriter.TerminalWriter(file)
     assert tw.hasmarkup
@@ -166,8 +165,7 @@ def test_should_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_1(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
     assert "\x1b[0m" in s
 
 
-def test_should_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_0(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
-    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "PY_COLORS", "0")
+def assert_color_not_set():
     f = io.StringIO()
     f.isatty = lambda: True  # type: ignore
     tw = terminalwriter.TerminalWriter(file=f)
@@ -177,6 +175,21 @@ def test_should_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_0(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
     assert s == "hello\n"
 
 
+def test_should_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_1(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "PY_COLORS", "1")
+    assert_color_set()
+
+
+def test_should_not_do_markup_PY_COLORS_eq_0(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "PY_COLORS", "0")
+    assert_color_not_set()
+
+
+def test_should_do_markup_GITHUB_ACTIONS_eq_true(monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setitem(os.environ, "GITHUB_ACTIONS", "true")
+    assert_color_set()
+
+
 class TestTerminalWriterLineWidth:
     def test_init(self) -> None:
         tw = terminalwriter.TerminalWriter()