diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 967d68c827..126d29dade 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1056,6 +1056,8 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/libmad-md_size.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/libmad-mips-newgcc.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/libmp4v2-c++11.patch			\
+  %D%/packages/patches/libmpeg2-arm-private-symbols.patch	\
+  %D%/packages/patches/libmpeg2-global-symbol-test.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/libmygpo-qt-fix-qt-5.11.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/libmygpo-qt-missing-qt5-modules.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/libreoffice-boost.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-arm-private-symbols.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-arm-private-symbols.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f88d65e21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-arm-private-symbols.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+Set visibility of global symbols used in ARM specific assembly file to
+internal.
+
+Taken from Debian:
+https://salsa.debian.org/multimedia-team/mpeg2dec/blob/master/debian/patches/60_arm-private-symbols.patch
+
+--- mpeg2dec.orig/libmpeg2/motion_comp_arm_s.S
++++ mpeg2dec/libmpeg2/motion_comp_arm_s.S
+@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
+ 
+ @ ----------------------------------------------------------------
+ 	.align
+-	.global MC_put_o_16_arm
++	.global   MC_put_o_16_arm
++	.internal MC_put_o_16_arm
+ MC_put_o_16_arm:
+ 	@@ void func(uint8_t * dest, const uint8_t * ref, int stride, int height)
+ 	pld [r1]
+@@ -83,7 +84,8 @@ MC_put_o_16_arm_align_jt:
+ 
+ @ ----------------------------------------------------------------
+ 	.align
+-	.global MC_put_o_8_arm
++	.global   MC_put_o_8_arm
++	.internal MC_put_o_8_arm
+ MC_put_o_8_arm:
+ 	@@ void func(uint8_t * dest, const uint8_t * ref, int stride, int height)
+ 	pld [r1]
+@@ -152,7 +154,8 @@ MC_put_o_8_arm_align_jt:
+ .endm
+ 
+ 	.align
+-	.global MC_put_x_16_arm
++	.global   MC_put_x_16_arm
++	.internal MC_put_x_16_arm
+ MC_put_x_16_arm:
+ 	@@ void func(uint8_t * dest, const uint8_t * ref, int stride, int height)
+ 	pld [r1]
+@@ -244,7 +247,8 @@ MC_put_x_16_arm_align_jt:
+ 
+ @ ----------------------------------------------------------------
+ 	.align
+-	.global MC_put_x_8_arm
++	.global   MC_put_x_8_arm
++	.internal MC_put_x_8_arm
+ MC_put_x_8_arm:
+ 	@@ void func(uint8_t * dest, const uint8_t * ref, int stride, int height)
+ 	pld [r1]
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-global-symbol-test.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-global-symbol-test.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f6eb3c6bd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/libmpeg2-global-symbol-test.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+Rewrite the public symbol check to verify the shared libraries, to check for
+more things, and to avoid duplication; fixes make check on ARM
+
+Taken from Debian:
+https://salsa.debian.org/multimedia-team/mpeg2dec/blob/master/debian/patches/61_global-symbol-test.patch
+
+--- mpeg2dec.orig/test/globals
++++ mpeg2dec/test/globals
+@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
+ #!/bin/sh
++# TODO
++# - fix checking of .a libs; problem is that "nm -g --defined-only" lists
++#   internal symbols; this can be solved by using objdump, but it's probably
++#   good enough to just run the tests on the shared lib
+ 
+ if test x"$srcdir" != x""; then
+     builddir="."	# running from make check, but it does not define that
+@@ -14,22 +18,30 @@ builddir=`cd $builddir;pwd`
+ 
+ error=0
+ 
+-bad_globals=`nm -g --defined-only $builddir/../libmpeg2/*.o |\
+-    awk '{if ($3) print $3}' | grep -v '^_\?mpeg2_'`
+-
+-if test x"$bad_globals" != x""; then
+-    echo BAD GLOBAL SYMBOLS:
+-    for s in $bad_globals; do echo $s; done
++# check_bad_public_symbols <symbol prefix> <lib file> [<lib file>...]
++#
++# checks public symbols in shared libs:
++# - allow prefix_anything
++# - reject _prefixanything
++# - allow _anything
++# - reject anything else
++#
++# NB: skips missing files
++check_bad_public_symbols() {
++    symbols_prefix="$1"
++    shift
++    lib_files=`ls "$@" 2>/dev/null`
++    [ -z "$lib_files" ] && return
++    bad_globals=`nm -g --defined-only $lib_files |
++        awk '{if ($3) print $3}' |
++        sed -n "/^${symbols_prefix}_/ d; /^_${symbols_prefix}/ { p; d }; /^_/ d; p"`
++    [ -z "$bad_globals" ] && return
+     error=1
+-fi
+-
+-bad_globals=`nm -g --defined-only $builddir/../libmpeg2/convert/*.o |\
+-    awk '{if ($3) print $3}' | grep -v '^_\?mpeg2convert_'`
++    echo BAD GLOBAL SYMBOLS in $lib_files:
++    echo "$bad_globals"
++}
+ 
+-if test x"$bad_globals" != x""; then
+-    echo BAD GLOBAL SYMBOLS:
+-    for s in $bad_globals; do echo $s; done
+-    error=1
+-fi
++check_bad_public_symbols mpeg2 $builddir/../libmpeg2/.libs/libmpeg2.so
++check_bad_public_symbols mpeg2convert $builddir/../libmpeg2/convert/.libs/libmpeg2convert.so
+ 
+ exit $error
diff --git a/gnu/packages/video.scm b/gnu/packages/video.scm
index c5dbe93076..1e67a7f281 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/video.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/video.scm
@@ -315,6 +315,8 @@ (define-public libmpeg2
               ;; because the SourceForge project is misconfigured.
               (uri (string-append "http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/files/"
                                   name "-" version ".tar.gz"))
+              (patches (search-patches "libmpeg2-arm-private-symbols.patch"
+                                       "libmpeg2-global-symbol-test.patch"))
               (sha256
                (base32
                 "1m3i322n2fwgrvbs1yck7g5md1dbg22bhq5xdqmjpz5m7j4jxqny"))))