diff --git a/recipes/sdl_image/all/conandata.yml b/recipes/sdl_image/all/conandata.yml
index 0444df801e1ac..5ee1e30b83122 100644
--- a/recipes/sdl_image/all/conandata.yml
+++ b/recipes/sdl_image/all/conandata.yml
@@ -5,3 +5,8 @@ sources:
   "2.0.5":
     url: "https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/release/SDL2_image-2.0.5.tar.gz"
     sha256: "bdd5f6e026682f7d7e1be0b6051b209da2f402a2dd8bd1c4bd9c25ad263108d0"
+patches:
+  "2.6.3":
+    - patch_file: "patches/0001-set-sdl-version-directly.patch"
+      patch_type: "conan"
+      patch_description: "Set SDL version directly in CMake rather than parsing a header"
diff --git a/recipes/sdl_image/all/conanfile.py b/recipes/sdl_image/all/conanfile.py
index bca15363d987d..8272b452a601f 100644
--- a/recipes/sdl_image/all/conanfile.py
+++ b/recipes/sdl_image/all/conanfile.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from conan.errors import ConanInvalidConfiguration
 from conan.tools.apple import is_apple_os
 from conan.tools.cmake import CMake, CMakeDeps, CMakeToolchain, cmake_layout
-from conan.tools.files import copy, get, rmdir
+from conan.tools.files import apply_conandata_patches, copy, export_conandata_patches, get, rmdir
 from conan.tools.scm import Version
 import os
 
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ class SDLImageConan(ConanFile):
     }
 
     def export_sources(self):
+        export_conandata_patches(self)
         if Version(self.version) < "2.6":
             copy(self, "CMakeLists.txt", src=self.recipe_folder, dst=self.export_sources_folder)
 
@@ -170,6 +171,7 @@ def generate(self):
         cd.generate()
 
     def build(self):
+        apply_conandata_patches(self)
         rmdir(self, os.path.join(self.source_folder, "external"))
         cmake = CMake(self)
         if Version(self.version) < "2.6":
diff --git a/recipes/sdl_image/all/patches/0001-set-sdl-version-directly.patch b/recipes/sdl_image/all/patches/0001-set-sdl-version-directly.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5b6569293fc85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes/sdl_image/all/patches/0001-set-sdl-version-directly.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+diff --git a/cmake/FindPrivateSDL2.cmake b/cmake/FindPrivateSDL2.cmake
+index 0314170..185f352 100644
+--- a/cmake/FindPrivateSDL2.cmake
++++ b/cmake/FindPrivateSDL2.cmake
+@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ find_path(SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR
+ )
+ 
+ set(SDL2_VERSION)
+-if(SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR)
++if(FALSE)
+     file(READ "${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR}/SDL_version.h" _sdl_version_h)
+     string(REGEX MATCH "#define[ \t]+SDL_MAJOR_VERSION[ \t]+([0-9]+)" _sdl2_major_re "${_sdl_version_h}")
+     set(_sdl2_major "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
+@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ if(SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR)
+         set(SDL2_VERSION "${_sdl2_major}.${_sdl2_minor}.${_sdl2_patch}")
+     endif()
+ endif()
++set(SDL2_VERSION ${SDL2_VERSION_STRING})
+ 
+ find_package_handle_standard_args(PrivateSDL2
+     REQUIRED_VARS SDL2_LIBRARY SDL2_INCLUDE_DIR