diff --git a/esphome/components/ota/ota_backend_arduino_esp8266.h b/esphome/components/ota/ota_backend_arduino_esp8266.h
index cf29a90fc1..329f2cf0f2 100644
--- a/esphome/components/ota/ota_backend_arduino_esp8266.h
+++ b/esphome/components/ota/ota_backend_arduino_esp8266.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #include "ota_component.h"
 #include "ota_backend.h"
+#include "esphome/core/macros.h"
 
 namespace esphome {
 namespace ota {
@@ -16,7 +17,11 @@ class ArduinoESP8266OTABackend : public OTABackend {
   OTAResponseTypes write(uint8_t *data, size_t len) override;
   OTAResponseTypes end() override;
   void abort() override;
+#if ARDUINO_VERSION_CODE >= VERSION_CODE(2, 7, 0)
   bool supports_compression() override { return true; }
+#else
+  bool supports_compression() override { return false; }
+#endif
 };
 
 }  // namespace ota