diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ffmpeg-full/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ffmpeg-full/default.nix
index 2186c154f80..ddcc81f8930 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ffmpeg-full/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ffmpeg-full/default.nix
@@ -443,6 +443,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildFlags = [ "all" ]
     ++ optional qtFaststartProgram "tools/qt-faststart"; # Build qt-faststart executable
 
+  doCheck = true;
+  checkPhase = let
+    ldLibraryPathEnv = if stdenv.isDarwin then "DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH" else "LD_LIBRARY_PATH";
+  in ''
+    ${ldLibraryPathEnv}="libavcodec:libavdevice:libavfilter:libavformat:libavresample:libavutil:libpostproc:libswresample:libswscale:''${${ldLibraryPathEnv}}" \
+      make check -j$NIX_BUILD_CORES
+  '';
+
   # Hacky framework patching technique borrowed from the phantomjs2 package
   postInstall = optionalString qtFaststartProgram ''
     cp -a tools/qt-faststart $out/bin/