diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/dlib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/dlib/default.nix
index fa7d70d5213..096910b238b 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/dlib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/dlib/default.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 , guiSupport ? false, libX11
 
   # see http://dlib.net/compile.html
+, sse4Support ? stdenv.hostPlatform.sse4_1Support
 , avxSupport ? stdenv.hostPlatform.avxSupport
 , cudaSupport ? true
 }:
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   cmakeFlags = [
     "-DUSE_DLIB_USE_CUDA=${if cudaSupport then "1" else "0"}"
+    "-DUSE_SSE4_INSTRUCTIONS=${if sse4Support then "yes" else "no"}"
     "-DUSE_AVX_INSTRUCTIONS=${if avxSupport then "yes" else "no"}" ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake pkg-config ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/dlib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/dlib/default.nix
index 204c1a98542..58ceb16870a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/dlib/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/dlib/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 { buildPythonPackage, stdenv, lib, dlib, python, pytest, more-itertools
+, sse4Support ? stdenv.hostPlatform.sse4_1Support
 , avxSupport ? stdenv.hostPlatform.avxSupport
 }:
 
@@ -12,7 +13,10 @@ buildPythonPackage {
     ${python.interpreter} nix_run_setup test --no USE_AVX_INSTRUCTIONS
   '';
 
-  setupPyBuildFlags = lib.optional avxSupport "--no USE_AVX_INSTRUCTIONS";
+  setupPyBuildFlags = [
+    "--set USE_SSE4_INSTRUCTIONS=${if sse4Support then "yes" else "no"}"
+    "--set USE_AVX_INSTRUCTIONS=${if avxSupport then "yes" else "no"}"
+  ];
 
   patches = [ ./build-cores.patch ];