diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/opts.py b/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
index 811e624c2a..afc27afa39 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from collections import OrderedDict, namedtuple
 from functools import partial
 from itertools import zip_longest
 from operator import attrgetter
+from socket import has_dualstack_ipv6
 
 from calibre.constants import config_dir
 from calibre.utils.localization import _
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ raw_options = (
     ' there are more than this number of items. Set to zero to disable.'),
 
     _('The interface on which to listen for connections'),
-    'listen_on', '::',
+    'listen_on', '::' if has_dualstack_ipv6() else '0.0.0.0',
     _('The default is to listen on all available IPv6 and IPv4 interfaces. You can change this to, for'
     ' example, "127.0.0.1" to only listen for connections from the local machine, or'
     ' to "::" to listen to all incoming IPv6 and IPv4 connections.'),