diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/irrlicht/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/irrlicht/default.nix
index 260be948ce1d..f35a75e54e7b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/irrlicht/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/irrlicht/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchzip, libGLU, libGL, libXrandr, libX11, libXxf86vm }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchzip, libGLU, libGL, libXrandr, libX11, libXxf86vm, zlib }:
 
 let
   common = import ./common.nix { inherit fetchzip; };
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   postPatch = ''
     sed -ie '/sys\/sysctl.h/d' source/Irrlicht/COSOperator.cpp
+  '' + lib.optionalString stdenv.isAarch64 ''
+    substituteInPlace source/Irrlicht/Makefile \
+      --replace "-DIRRLICHT_EXPORTS=1" "-DIRRLICHT_EXPORTS=1 -DPNG_ARM_NEON_OPT=0"
   '';
 
   preConfigure = ''
@@ -27,7 +30,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     mkdir -p $out/lib
   '';
 
-  buildInputs = [ libGLU libGL libXrandr libX11 libXxf86vm ];
+  buildInputs = [ libGLU libGL libXrandr libX11 libXxf86vm ]
+                ++ lib.optional stdenv.isAarch64 zlib;
 
   meta = {
     homepage = "http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/";