diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/leptonica/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/leptonica/default.nix
index eacab92d36b..b9b6c3c7c24 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/leptonica/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/leptonica/default.nix
@@ -1,14 +1,38 @@
-{stdenv, fetchurl, libpng, libtiff, libjpeg, zlib}:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch, autoreconfHook, pkgconfig
+, giflib, libjpeg, libpng, libtiff, libwebp, openjpeg, zlib
+}:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "leptonica-1.72";
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "leptonica-${version}";
+  version = "1.74.1";
 
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = http://www.leptonica.org/source/leptonica-1.72.tar.gz;
-    sha256 = "0mhzvqs0im04y1cpcc1yma70hgdac1frf33h73m9z3356bfymmbr";
+    url = "http://www.leptonica.org/source/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "0qpcidvv6igybrrhj0m6j47g642c8sk1qn4dpj82mgd38xx52skl";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ libpng libtiff libjpeg zlib ];
+  patches = stdenv.lib.singleton (fetchpatch {
+    # configure: Support pkg-config
+    url = "https://github.com/DanBloomberg/leptonica/commit/"
+        + "4476d162cc191a0fefb2ce434153e12bbf188664.patch";
+    sha256 = "1razzp2g49shfaravfqpxm3ivcd1r92lvqysll6nnf6d1wp9865s";
+  });
+
+  postPatch = ''
+    # Remove the AC_SUBST() macros on *_LIBS, because the *_LIBS variables will
+    # be automatically set by PKG_CHECK_MODULES() since autotools 0.24 and
+    # using the ones that are set here in Leptonica's configure.ac do not
+    # include -L linker flags.
+    sed -i -e '/PKG_CHECK_MODULES/,/^ *\])/s/AC_SUBST([^)]*)//' configure.ac
+
+    # The giflib package doesn't ship a pkg-config file, so we need to inject
+    # the linker search path.
+    substituteInPlace configure.ac --replace -lgif \
+      ${stdenv.lib.escapeShellArg "'-L${giflib}/lib -lgif'"}
+  '';
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkgconfig ];
+  buildInputs = [ giflib libjpeg libpng libtiff libwebp openjpeg zlib ];
 
   meta = {
     description = "Image processing and analysis library";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 38b92de3d55..7062bedd9b1 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8059,9 +8059,7 @@ with pkgs;
 
   levmar = callPackage ../development/libraries/levmar { };
 
-  leptonica = callPackage ../development/libraries/leptonica {
-    libpng = libpng12;
-  };
+  leptonica = callPackage ../development/libraries/leptonica { };
 
   lib3ds = callPackage ../development/libraries/lib3ds { };