diff --git a/src/hb-buffer-private.hh b/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
index 67c431d39..ceccecdce 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-buffer-private.hh
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@
 ASSERT_STATIC (sizeof (hb_glyph_info_t) == 20);
 ASSERT_STATIC (sizeof (hb_glyph_info_t) == sizeof (hb_glyph_position_t));
 
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_buffer_flags_t> {};
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_buffer_serialize_flags_t> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_buffer_flags_t);
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_buffer_serialize_flags_t);
 
 enum hb_buffer_scratch_flags_t {
   HB_BUFFER_SCRATCH_FLAG_DEFAULT			= 0x00000000u,
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ enum hb_buffer_scratch_flags_t {
   HB_BUFFER_SCRATCH_FLAG_COMPLEX2			= 0x04000000u,
   HB_BUFFER_SCRATCH_FLAG_COMPLEX3			= 0x08000000u,
 };
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_buffer_scratch_flags_t> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_buffer_scratch_flags_t);
 
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-layout-common-private.hh b/src/hb-ot-layout-common-private.hh
index 04958a816..5b21f1427 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-layout-common-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-layout-common-private.hh
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ struct LookupFlag : USHORT
 
 } /* namespace OT */
 /* This has to be outside the namespace. */
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<OT::LookupFlag::Flags> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (OT::LookupFlag::Flags);
 namespace OT {
 
 struct Lookup
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-layout-private.hh b/src/hb-ot-layout-private.hh
index 049b232de..45897ed5a 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-layout-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-layout-private.hh
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ enum hb_ot_layout_glyph_props_flags_t
 					  HB_OT_LAYOUT_GLYPH_PROPS_LIGATED |
 					  HB_OT_LAYOUT_GLYPH_PROPS_MULTIPLIED
 };
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_ot_layout_glyph_props_flags_t> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_ot_layout_glyph_props_flags_t);
 
 
 /*
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ enum hb_unicode_props_flags_t {
   UPROPS_MASK_IGNORABLE = 0x80u,
   UPROPS_MASK_GEN_CAT   = 0x1Fu
 };
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_unicode_props_flags_t> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_unicode_props_flags_t);
 
 static inline void
 _hb_glyph_info_set_unicode_props (hb_glyph_info_t *info, hb_buffer_t *buffer)
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-map-private.hh b/src/hb-ot-map-private.hh
index 1e3ff67e3..6f62c77de 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-map-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-ot-map-private.hh
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ enum hb_ot_map_feature_flags_t {
   F_MANUAL_ZWJ		= 0x0004u, /* Don't skip over ZWJ when matching. */
   F_GLOBAL_SEARCH	= 0x0008u  /* If feature not found in LangSys, look for it in global feature list and pick one. */
 };
-template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<hb_ot_map_feature_flags_t> {};
+HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T (hb_ot_map_feature_flags_t);
 /* Macro version for where const is desired. */
 #define F_COMBINE(l,r) (hb_ot_map_feature_flags_t ((unsigned int) (l) | (unsigned int) (r)))
 
diff --git a/src/hb-private.hh b/src/hb-private.hh
index 5ed7ff3b2..32f8d5e37 100644
--- a/src/hb-private.hh
+++ b/src/hb-private.hh
@@ -119,6 +119,15 @@ extern "C" void  hb_free_impl(void *ptr);
 #define HB_FUNC __func__
 #endif
 
+/* Use templates for bitwise ops on enums or MSVC's DEFINE_ENUM_FLAG_OPERATORS */
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
+# pragma warning(disable:4200)
+# pragma warning(disable:4800)
+# define HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T(flags_t)	DEFINE_ENUM_FLAG_OPERATORS (##flags_t##);
+#else
+# define HB_MARK_AS_FLAG_T(flags_t)	template <> class hb_mark_as_flags_t<flags_t> {};
+#endif
+
 /*
  * Borrowed from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215411
  * HB_FALLTHROUGH is an annotation to suppress compiler warnings about switch
@@ -895,6 +904,7 @@ hb_in_ranges (T u, T lo1, T hi1, T lo2, T hi2, T lo3, T hi3)
 /* To my surprise, looks like the function resolver is happy to silently cast
  * one enum to another...  So this doesn't provide the type-checking that I
  * originally had in mind... :( */
+#ifndef _MSC_VER
 template <class T> class hb_mark_as_flags_t;
 template <class T> static inline T operator | (T l, T r)
 { hb_mark_as_flags_t<T> unused HB_UNUSED; return T ((unsigned int) l | (unsigned int) r); }
@@ -906,6 +916,7 @@ template <class T> static inline T& operator |= (T &l, T r)
 { hb_mark_as_flags_t<T> unused HB_UNUSED; l = l | r; return l; }
 template <class T> static inline T& operator &= (T& l, T r)
 { hb_mark_as_flags_t<T> unused HB_UNUSED; l = l & r; return l; }
+#endif
 
 
 /* Useful for set-operations on small enums.