diff --git a/janusgraph-cql/src/main/java/org/janusgraph/diskstorage/cql/CQLKeyColumnValueStore.java b/janusgraph-cql/src/main/java/org/janusgraph/diskstorage/cql/CQLKeyColumnValueStore.java
index 158349420d..b01136a176 100644
--- a/janusgraph-cql/src/main/java/org/janusgraph/diskstorage/cql/CQLKeyColumnValueStore.java
+++ b/janusgraph-cql/src/main/java/org/janusgraph/diskstorage/cql/CQLKeyColumnValueStore.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.cql.BoundStatement;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.cql.BoundStatementBuilder;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.cql.PreparedStatement;
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.cql.ResultSet;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.cql.Row;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.metadata.TokenMap;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.servererrors.QueryValidationException;
@@ -305,7 +306,19 @@ private boolean shouldInitializeTable() {
             .orElse(true);
     }
 
+    private static int getCassandraMajorVersion(final CqlSession session) {
+        try {
+            ResultSet rs = session.execute("SELECT release_version FROM system.local");
+            Row row = rs.one();
+            String version = row.getString("release_version");
+            return Integer.parseInt(version.split("\\.")[0]);
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+    }
+
     private static void initializeTable(final CqlSession session, final String keyspaceName, final String tableName, final Configuration configuration) {
+        int cassandraMajorVersion = getCassandraMajorVersion(session);
         CreateTableWithOptions createTable = createTable(keyspaceName, tableName)
                 .ifNotExists()
                 .withPartitionKey(KEY_COLUMN_NAME, DataTypes.BLOB)
@@ -313,7 +326,7 @@ private static void initializeTable(final CqlSession session, final String keysp
                 .withColumn(VALUE_COLUMN_NAME, DataTypes.BLOB);
 
         createTable = compactionOptions(createTable, configuration);
-        createTable = compressionOptions(createTable, configuration);
+        createTable = compressionOptions(createTable, configuration, cassandraMajorVersion);
         createTable = gcGraceSeconds(createTable, configuration);
         createTable = speculativeRetryOptions(createTable, configuration);
 
@@ -321,7 +334,8 @@ private static void initializeTable(final CqlSession session, final String keysp
     }
 
     private static CreateTableWithOptions compressionOptions(final CreateTableWithOptions createTable,
-                                                             final Configuration configuration) {
+                                                             final Configuration configuration,
+                                                             final int cassandraMajorVersion) {
         if (!configuration.get(CF_COMPRESSION)) {
             // No compression
             return createTable.withNoCompression();
@@ -329,9 +343,14 @@ private static CreateTableWithOptions compressionOptions(final CreateTableWithOp
 
         String compressionType = configuration.get(CF_COMPRESSION_TYPE);
         int chunkLengthInKb = configuration.get(CF_COMPRESSION_BLOCK_SIZE);
+        Map<String, Object> options;
+
+        if (cassandraMajorVersion >= 5)
+            options = ImmutableMap.of("class", compressionType, "chunk_length_in_kb", chunkLengthInKb);
+        else
+            options = ImmutableMap.of("sstable_compression", compressionType, "chunk_length_kb", chunkLengthInKb);
 
-        return createTable.withOption("compression",
-            ImmutableMap.of("class", compressionType, "chunk_length_in_kb", chunkLengthInKb));
+        return createTable.withOption("compression", options);
     }
 
     static CreateTableWithOptions compactionOptions(final CreateTableWithOptions createTable,