diff --git a/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs b/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
--- a/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
+++ b/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
@@ -301,8 +301,15 @@
                                    , msDOSTime :: Word16
                                    } deriving (Read, Show, Eq)
 
+-- | Epoch time corresponding to the minimum DOS DateTime (Jan 1 1980 00:00:00).
+minMSDOSDateTime :: Integer
+minMSDOSDateTime = 315532800
+
 -- | Convert a clock time to a MSDOS datetime.  The MSDOS time will be relative to UTC.
 epochTimeToMSDOSDateTime :: Integer -> MSDOSDateTime
+epochTimeToMSDOSDateTime epochtime | epochtime < minMSDOSDateTime =
+  epochTimeToMSDOSDateTime minMSDOSDateTime
+  -- if time is earlier than minimum DOS datetime, return minimum
 epochTimeToMSDOSDateTime epochtime =
   let ut = toUTCTime (TOD epochtime 0)
       dosTime = toEnum $ (ctSec ut `div` 2) + shiftL (ctMin ut) 5 + shiftL (ctHour ut) 11
diff --git a/zip-archive.cabal b/zip-archive.cabal
--- a/zip-archive.cabal
+++ b/zip-archive.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                zip-archive
-Version:             0.1.1.5
+Version:             0.1.1.6
 Cabal-version:       >= 1.2
 Build-type:          Simple
 Synopsis:            Library for creating and modifying zip archives.