diff --git a/hdf5.changes b/hdf5.changes
index 8225fb5..ca601cf 100644
--- a/hdf5.changes
+++ b/hdf5.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Jun 16 21:13:30 UTC 2017 - junghans@votca.org
+
+- Enabled szlib support through libaec's szlib API
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Wed Oct  5 19:03:35 UTC 2016 - toddrme2178@gmail.com
 
diff --git a/hdf5.spec b/hdf5.spec
index 081809d..efe87da 100644
--- a/hdf5.spec
+++ b/hdf5.spec
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ BuildRequires:  gcc-fortran
 BuildRequires:  krb5-devel
 BuildRequires:  openssl-devel
 BuildRequires:  zlib-devel
+BuildRequires:  libsz2-devel
 %if 0%{?_openmpi}
 BuildRequires:  openmpi-devel
 %endif
@@ -821,6 +822,7 @@ pushd build
   --enable-cxx \
   --enable-threadsafe \
   --enable-build-mode=production \
+  --with-szlib \
   --with-pthread
 
 make V=1 %{?_smp_mflags}