diff --git a/heifio/CMakeLists.txt b/heifio/CMakeLists.txt
index 920eeca..753bda1 100644
--- a/heifio/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/heifio/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,10 +20,7 @@ set_target_properties(heifio
         VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION})
 
 
-target_compile_definitions(heifio
-        PUBLIC
-        LIBHEIF_EXPORTS
-        HAVE_VISIBILITY)
+# static lib, not changing visibility
 
 find_package(TIFF)
 if (TIFF_FOUND)
diff --git a/libheif/CMakeLists.txt b/libheif/CMakeLists.txt
index 55d6313..2229992 100644
--- a/libheif/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libheif/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -232,10 +232,13 @@ if (BUILD_FRAMEWORK)
     MACOSX_RPATH TRUE)
 endif()
 
-target_compile_definitions(heif
-        PUBLIC
-        LIBHEIF_EXPORTS
-        HAVE_VISIBILITY)
+target_compile_definitions(heif PRIVATE LIBHEIF_EXPORTS)
+if(NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+    target_compile_definitions(heif PUBLIC LIBHEIF_STATIC_BUILD)
+endif()
+if(WITH_REDUCED_VISIBILITY AND NOT MSVC)
+    target_compile_definitions(heif PRIVATE HAVE_VISIBILITY)
+endif()
 
 if (PLUGIN_LOADING_SUPPORTED_AND_ENABLED)
     target_compile_definitions(heif PRIVATE ENABLE_PLUGIN_LOADING=1)
diff --git a/libheif/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/libheif/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index f7379c0..c8a3245 100644
--- a/libheif/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libheif/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ macro(plugin_compilation name varName foundName optionName defineName)
                         VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
                         SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR})
             endif ()
-            target_compile_definitions(heif-${name}
-                    PUBLIC
-                    LIBHEIF_EXPORTS
-                    HAVE_VISIBILITY)
+            target_compile_definitions(heif-${name} PRIVATE LIBHEIF_EXPORTS)
+            if(WITH_REDUCED_VISIBILITY AND NOT MSVC)
+                target_compile_definitions(heif-${name} PRIVATE HAVE_VISIBILITY)
+            endif()
             target_compile_definitions(heif-${name} PRIVATE PLUGIN_${defineName}=1)
             target_include_directories(heif-${name} PRIVATE ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR} ${libheif_BINARY_DIR} ${libheif_SOURCE_DIR}/libheif ${libheif_SOURCE_DIR}/libheif/api ${${varName}_INCLUDE_DIRS})
             target_link_libraries(heif-${name} PRIVATE ${${varName}_LIBRARIES} heif)