diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 487b65b0..9439999f 100755
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -8,12 +8,18 @@ sdl2 = dependency('SDL2', static: build_static)
 sdl_sound = compilers['cpp'].find_library('SDL2_sound')
 sdl2_ttf = dependency('SDL2_ttf', static: build_static)
 freetype = dependency('freetype2', static: build_static)
-sdl2_image = dependency('SDL2_image', modules: ['SDL2_image::SDL2_image-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlidec-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlicommon-static', 'SDL2_image::hwy', 'SDL2_image::jxl_dec-static'])
 pixman = dependency('pixman-1', static: build_static)
 png = dependency('libpng', static: build_static)
 zlib = dependency('zlib', static: build_static)
 uchardet = dependency('uchardet', static: build_static)
 
+# As no pkg-config file is generated for sdl2_image, and pkg-config is the default option for meson detecting dependencies, pkg-config will fail to find sdl2_image.pc in the build's lib/pkgconfig folder and instead pull it from the locally installed packages if it exists.
+# We should first check to see if cmake can find our sdl2_image sub project and use that, then check using pkg-config as normal if we are not building the sub project.
+sdl2_image = dependency('SDL2_image', modules: ['SDL2_image::SDL2_image-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlidec-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlicommon-static', 'SDL2_image::hwy', 'SDL2_image::jxl_dec-static'], static: build_static, method: 'cmake', required: false)
+if sdl2_image.found() == false
+    sdl2_image = dependency('SDL2_image', modules: ['SDL2_image::SDL2_image-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlidec-static', 'SDL2_image::brotlicommon-static', 'SDL2_image::hwy', 'SDL2_image::jxl_dec-static'], static: build_static)
+endif
+
 if host_system == 'windows'
     bz2 = dependency('bzip2', static: build_static)
     iconv = compilers['cpp'].find_library('iconv', static: build_static)