diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/adios/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/adios/package.py
index 870e049fc91..840f1be5183 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/adios/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/adios/package.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class Adios(AutotoolsPackage):
     # optional transformations
     depends_on('zlib', when='+zlib')
     depends_on('szip', when='+szip')
-    depends_on('zfp', when='+zfp')
+    depends_on('zfp@:0.5.0', when='+zfp')
     # optional transports & file converters
     depends_on('hdf5@1.8:+mpi', when='+hdf5')