diff --git a/platform/unix/configure.ac b/platform/unix/configure.ac
index 8ccf20b24..ddfa8345d 100644
--- a/platform/unix/configure.ac
+++ b/platform/unix/configure.ac
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@ AS_VAR_IF([enable_osx], [no], [], #else
 		  AC_SUBST([LDFLAGS], ["${LDFLAGS} -framework CoreFoundation -framework Cocoa"])
 		  AC_SUBST([CPPFLAGS], ["${CPPFLAGS} -I../platform/macosx"]))
 
+# stb_image sse2 override (https://github.com/nothings/stb/issues/280)
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([stbi-sse2-override],
+			  AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-stbi-sse2-override], [Force stb_image SSE2 support]), [], [enable_stbi_sse2_override=no])
+AS_VAR_IF([enable_stbi_sse2_override], [no], [], #else
+		  AC_SUBST([CPPFLAGS], ["${CPPFLAGS} -DLOVE_STBI_SSE2_OVERRIDE"]))
+
 # --with-lua and --with-luaversion
 AC_ARG_WITH([lua], [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-lua], [Select the lua implementation])],
 			[], [with_lua=luajit])
diff --git a/src/libraries/stb/stb_image.h b/src/libraries/stb/stb_image.h
index fd4c872bc..13ba6c75c 100644
--- a/src/libraries/stb/stb_image.h
+++ b/src/libraries/stb/stb_image.h
@@ -712,12 +712,18 @@ static int stbi__sse2_available()
 
 static int stbi__sse2_available()
 {
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ * 100 + __GNUC_MINOR__) >= 408 // GCC 4.8 or later
-   // GCC 4.8+ has a nice way to do this
-   return __builtin_cpu_supports("sse2");
+#if defined(STBI__X64_TARGET)
+   // on x64, SSE2 can be assumed to be available.
+   return 1;
+#elif defined(LOVE_STBI_SSE2_OVERRIDE)
+   return 1;
 #else
-   // portable way to do this, preferably without using GCC inline ASM?
-   // just bail for now.
+#	warning "stb_image compiled without SSE2 support, define LOVE_STBI_SSE2_OVERRIDE to force SSE2 support"
+   // __builtin_cpu_supports is buggy on GCC 5 and above, causing problems if
+   // referenced in a shared object, giving missing __cpu_model hidden symbol errors.
+   // To get around that, just assume that SSE2 is not available on x86.
+   //
+   // See https://github.com/nothings/stb/issues/280 for more information.
    return 0;
 #endif
 }