diff --git a/docs/Linux Dependencies.md b/docs/Linux Dependencies.md
index 3dc1502c95..8b22e39667 100644
--- a/docs/Linux Dependencies.md	
+++ b/docs/Linux Dependencies.md	
@@ -44,7 +44,14 @@ or
 - libxrender-dev (unless `JUCE_USE_XRENDER=0`)
 
 #### juce_gui_extra
-- libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev (unless `JUCE_WEB_BROWSER=0`)
+- libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev (unless `JUCE_WEB_BROWSER=0`)
+
+On older systems, where 4.1 is not available, you can also use
+
+- libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev
+
+Compiled JUCE applications will dynamically load whichever library version is
+available during runtime.
 
 #### juce_opengl
 - libglu1-mesa-dev
@@ -58,5 +65,5 @@ The full command is as follows:
         libcurl4-openssl-dev  \
         libfreetype6-dev \
         libx11-dev libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxcursor-dev libxext-dev libxinerama-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev \
-        libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev \
+        libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
         libglu1-mesa-dev mesa-common-dev
diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_extra/native/juce_WebBrowserComponent_linux.cpp b/modules/juce_gui_extra/native/juce_WebBrowserComponent_linux.cpp
index ac25557343..40b08ba8b6 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_extra/native/juce_WebBrowserComponent_linux.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_extra/native/juce_WebBrowserComponent_linux.cpp
@@ -373,14 +373,37 @@ private:
                             makeSymbolBinding (juce_g_free, "g_free"));
     }
 
+    struct WebKitAndDependencyLibraryNames
+    {
+        const char* webkitLib;
+        const char* jsLib;
+        const char* soupLib;
+    };
+
+    bool openWebKitAndDependencyLibraries (const WebKitAndDependencyLibraryNames& names)
+    {
+        if (webkitLib.open (names.webkitLib) && jsLib.open (names.jsLib) && soupLib.open (names.soupLib))
+            return true;
+
+        for (auto* l : { &webkitLib, &jsLib, &soupLib })
+            l->close();
+
+        return false;
+    }
+
     //==============================================================================
+    DynamicLibrary webkitLib, jsLib, soupLib;
+
     DynamicLibrary gtkLib    { "libgtk-3.so" },
-                   webkitLib { "libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so" },
-                   jsLib     { "libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so" },
-                   soupLib   { "libsoup-2.4.so" },
                    glib      { "libglib-2.0.so" };
 
-    const bool webKitIsAvailable =    loadWebkitSymbols()
+    const bool webKitIsAvailable =    (   openWebKitAndDependencyLibraries ({ "libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so",
+                                                                              "libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so",
+                                                                              "libsoup-3.0.so" })
+                                       || openWebKitAndDependencyLibraries ({ "libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so",
+                                                                              "libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so",
+                                                                              "libsoup-2.4.so" }))
+                                   && loadWebkitSymbols()
                                    && loadGtkSymbols()
                                    && loadJsLibSymbols()
                                    && loadSoupLibSymbols()