diff --git a/osdep/compiler.h b/osdep/compiler.h
index cb04fed81f..48693154ce 100644
--- a/osdep/compiler.h
+++ b/osdep/compiler.h
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
 #define MP_UNUSED
 #endif
 
+#if defined(__STDC_VERSION__) && (__STDC_VERSION__ < 202311L) && !defined(thread_local)
+#define thread_local _Thread_local
+#endif
+
 #if defined(__GNUC__) || defined(__clang__)
 #define PRINTF_ATTRIBUTE(a1, a2) __attribute__((format(printf, a1, a2)))
 #define SCANF_ATTRIBUTE(a1, a2) __attribute__((format(scanf, a1, a2)))
diff --git a/osdep/io.c b/osdep/io.c
index f7e24ba29a..5167b104a9 100644
--- a/osdep/io.c
+++ b/osdep/io.c
@@ -721,7 +721,7 @@ int mp_ftruncate64(int fd, off_t length)
     return -1;
 }
 
-_Thread_local
+thread_local
 static struct {
     DWORD errcode;
     char *errstring;
diff --git a/osdep/threads.h b/osdep/threads.h
index 4e9cf97baf..0e607598ff 100644
--- a/osdep/threads.h
+++ b/osdep/threads.h
@@ -9,4 +9,6 @@
 #include "threads-posix.h"
 #endif
 
+#include "osdep/compiler.h"  // for thread_local
+
 #endif