diff --git a/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm b/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
index 6988eea1c8..31a8294d30 100644
--- a/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
+++ b/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
@@ -529,6 +529,18 @@ sub mkvcbuild
 			}
 		}
 
+		# Perl versions before 5.13.4 don't provide -D_USE_32BIT_TIME_T
+		# regardless of how they were built.  On 32-bit Windows, assume
+		# such a version was built with a pre-MSVC-2005 compiler, and
+		# define the symbol anyway, so that we are compatible if we're
+		# being built with a later MSVC version.
+		push(@perl_embed_ccflags, '_USE_32BIT_TIME_T')
+		  if $solution->{platform} eq 'Win32'
+			  && $Config{PERL_REVISION} == 5
+			  && ($Config{PERL_VERSION} < 13
+				  || (   $Config{PERL_VERSION} == 13
+					  && $Config{PERL_SUBVERSION} < 4));
+
 		# Also, a hack to prevent duplicate definitions of uid_t/gid_t
 		push(@perl_embed_ccflags, 'PLPERL_HAVE_UID_GID');