diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/h5py/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/h5py/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9ab68ac4cd2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/h5py/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, python, buildPythonPackage
+, numpy, hdf5, cython
+, mpiSupport ? false, mpi4py ? null, mpi ? null }:
+
+assert mpiSupport == hdf5.mpiSupport;
+assert mpiSupport -> mpi != null
+  && mpi4py != null
+  && mpi == mpi4py.mpi
+  && mpi == hdf5.mpi
+  ;
+
+with stdenv.lib;
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "h5py-2.3.1";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/h/h5py/${name}.tar.gz";
+    md5 = "8f32f96d653e904d20f9f910c6d9dd91";
+  };
+
+  setupPyBuildFlags = [ "--hdf5=${hdf5}" ]
+    ++ optional mpiSupport "--mpi"
+    ;
+  setupPyInstallFlags = setupPyBuildFlags;
+
+  preBuild = if mpiSupport then "export CC=${mpi}/bin/mpicc" else "";
+
+  buildInputs = [ hdf5 cython ]
+    ++ optional mpiSupport mpi
+    ;
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ numpy ]
+    ++ optional mpiSupport mpi4py
+    ;
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "
+      The h5py package is a Pythonic interface to the HDF5 binary data format.
+    ";
+    homepage = "http://www.h5py.org/";
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd2;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 59f00576dad2..2e7189c3a5bc 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -89,6 +89,19 @@ rec {
     '';
   };
 
+  h5py = callPackage ../development/python-modules/h5py {
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv fetchurl;
+    inherit python buildPythonPackage cython numpy;
+    hdf5 = pkgs.hdf5.override { mpi = null; };
+  };
+
+  h5py-mpi = h5py.override {
+    mpiSupport = true;
+    mpi = pkgs.openmpi;
+    hdf5 = pkgs.hdf5.override { mpi = pkgs.openmpi; enableShared = true; };
+    inherit mpi4py;
+  };
+
   ipython = import ../shells/ipython {
     inherit (pkgs) stdenv fetchurl sip pyqt4;
     inherit buildPythonPackage pythonPackages;