diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 9a0d53d..f341c3c 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -89,15 +89,6 @@ jobs:
       - run: 'unzip mr.zip'
       - run: 'go build -tags external_libzstd'
       - run: 'PAYLOAD=`pwd`/mr GODEBUG=efence=1 go test -tags external_libzstd -v'
-  "golang-zstd-legacy-support":
-    docker:
-      - image: circleci/golang:latest
-    steps:
-      - checkout
-      - run: 'wget https://github.com/DataDog/zstd/files/2246767/mr.zip'
-      - run: 'unzip mr.zip'
-      - run: 'CGO_CFLAGS="-DZSTD_LEGACY_SUPPORT=1" go build'
-      - run: 'PAYLOAD=`pwd`/mr CGO_CFLAGS="-DZSTD_LEGACY_SUPPORT=1" go test -v'
   "golang-i386":
     docker:
       - image: 32bit/ubuntu:16.04
@@ -118,4 +109,3 @@ workflows:
       - "golang-efence"
       - "golang-efence-external-libzstd"
       - "golang-i386"
-      - "golang-zstd-legacy-support"
diff --git a/zstd.go b/zstd.go
index cfa7ed6..d4c7398 100644
--- a/zstd.go
+++ b/zstd.go
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 package zstd
 
 /*
+// support decoding of "legacy" zstd payloads from versions [0.4, 0.8], matching the
+// default configuration of the zstd command line tool:
+// https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/dev/programs/README.md
+#cgo CFLAGS: -DZSTD_LEGACY_SUPPORT=4
+
 #include "zstd.h"
 */
 import "C"
diff --git a/zstd_test.go b/zstd_test.go
index e5bb2d2..399b69a 100644
--- a/zstd_test.go
+++ b/zstd_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -259,6 +261,29 @@ func TestRealPayload(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestLegacy(t *testing.T) {
+	// payloads compressed with zstd v0.5
+	// needs ZSTD_LEGACY_SUPPORT=5 or less
+	testCases := []struct {
+		input    string
+		expected string
+	}{
+		{"%\xb5/\xfd\x00@\x00\x1bcompressed with legacy zstd\xc0\x00\x00", "compressed with legacy zstd"},
+		{"%\xb5/\xfd\x00\x00\x00A\x11\x007\x14\xb0\xb5\x01@\x1aR\xb6iI7[FH\x022u\xe0O-\x18\xe3G\x9e2\xab\xd9\xea\xca7؊\xee\x884\xbf\xe7\xdc\xe4@\xe1-\x9e\xac\xf0\xf2\x86\x0f\xf1r\xbb7\b\x81Z\x01\x00\x01\x00\xdf`\xfe\xc0\x00\x00", "compressed with legacy zstd"},
+	}
+	for i, testCase := range testCases {
+		t.Run(strconv.Itoa(i), func(t *testing.T) {
+			out, err := Decompress(nil, []byte(testCase.input))
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if !strings.Contains(string(out), testCase.expected) {
+				t.Errorf("expected to find %#v; output=%#v", testCase.expected, string(out))
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func BenchmarkCompression(b *testing.B) {
 	if raw == nil {
 		b.Fatal(ErrNoPayloadEnv)