diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6504f4714..f1a75f6ff 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ if(BUILD_SHARED)
 	add_library(${BINARY_NAME} SHARED ${SRC})
 	if(BUILD_STATIC)
 		add_library(${BINARY_NAME}-static STATIC ${SRC})
-		target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME}-static PRIVATE ${FEATURE_DEFINES})
+		set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-static PROPERTIES COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "${FEATURE_DEFINES}")
 		install(TARGETS ${BINARY_NAME}-static DESTINATION lib COMPONENT lib${BINARY_NAME})
 	endif()
 else()
@@ -313,15 +313,13 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 target_link_libraries(${BINARY_NAME} m ${DEBUGGER_LIB} ${OS_LIB} ${DEPENDENCY_LIB})
-target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME} PRIVATE ${FEATURE_DEFINES})
 install(TARGETS ${BINARY_NAME} DESTINATION lib COMPONENT lib${BINARY_NAME})
-set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME} PROPERTIES VERSION ${LIB_VERSION_STRING} SOVERSION ${LIB_VERSION_ABI})
+set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME} PROPERTIES VERSION ${LIB_VERSION_STRING} SOVERSION ${LIB_VERSION_ABI} COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "${FEATURE_DEFINES}")
 
 if(BUILD_LIBRETRO)
 	file(GLOB RETRO_SRC ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/platform/libretro/*.c)
 	add_library(${BINARY_NAME}_libretro SHARED ${CORE_SRC} ${RETRO_SRC})
-	set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}_libretro PROPERTIES PREFIX "" COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "")
-	target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME}_libretro PRIVATE COLOR_16_BIT;COLOR_5_6_5 PUBLIC "" INTERFACE "")
+	set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}_libretro PROPERTIES PREFIX "" COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "COLOR_16_BIT;COLOR_5_6_5")
 	target_link_libraries(${BINARY_NAME}_libretro m ${OS_LIB})
 endif()
 
diff --git a/src/platform/qt/CMakeLists.txt b/src/platform/qt/CMakeLists.txt
index 887f03edc..85cd6631a 100644
--- a/src/platform/qt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/platform/qt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -109,8 +109,7 @@ if(WIN32)
 	list(APPEND RESOURCES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/res/mgba.rc)
 endif()
 add_executable(${BINARY_NAME}-qt WIN32 MACOSX_BUNDLE main.cpp ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/res/mgba.icns ${SOURCE_FILES} ${PLATFORM_SRC} ${UI_FILES} ${AUDIO_SRC} ${RESOURCES})
-target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME}-qt PRIVATE ${FEATURE_DEFINES})
-set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-qt PROPERTIES MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/res/info.plist.in)
+set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-qt PROPERTIES MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/res/info.plist.in COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "${FEATURE_DEFINES}")
 
 list(APPEND QT_LIBRARIES Qt5::Widgets Qt5::OpenGL)
 target_link_libraries(${BINARY_NAME}-qt ${PLATFORM_LIBRARY} ${OPENGL_LIBRARY} ${BINARY_NAME} ${QT_LIBRARIES})
diff --git a/src/platform/sdl/CMakeLists.txt b/src/platform/sdl/CMakeLists.txt
index 76d3f6825..d964eff1a 100644
--- a/src/platform/sdl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/platform/sdl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ if(BUILD_RASPI)
 	set(EGL_LIBRARY "-lEGL -lGLESv2 -lbcm_host")
 	set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fgnu89-inline")
 	add_executable(${BINARY_NAME}-rpi ${PLATFORM_SRC} ${MAIN_SRC} ${EGL_MAIN_SRC})
-	target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME}-rpi PRIVATE ${FEATURE_DEFINES})
+	set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-rpi PROPERTIES COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "${FEATURE_DEFINES}")
 	target_link_libraries(${BINARY_NAME}-rpi ${BINARY_NAME} ${PLATFORM_LIBRARY} ${EGL_LIBRARY})
 	install(TARGETS ${BINARY_NAME}-rpi DESTINATION bin COMPONENT ${BINARY_NAME}-rpi)
 endif()
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 add_executable(${BINARY_NAME}-sdl WIN32 ${PLATFORM_SRC} ${MAIN_SRC})
-target_compile_definitions(${BINARY_NAME}-sdl PRIVATE ${FEATURE_DEFINES})
+set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-sdl PROPERTIES COMPILE_DEFINITIONS "${FEATURE_DEFINES}")
 target_link_libraries(${BINARY_NAME}-sdl ${BINARY_NAME} ${PLATFORM_LIBRARY} ${OPENGL_LIBRARY})
 set_target_properties(${BINARY_NAME}-sdl PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME ${BINARY_NAME})
 install(TARGETS ${BINARY_NAME}-sdl DESTINATION bin COMPONENT ${BINARY_NAME}-sdl)