diff --git a/lib/setup.php b/lib/setup.php
index 9c3fb46124e..e9f286a979c 100644
--- a/lib/setup.php
+++ b/lib/setup.php
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ if (!isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']) && isset($_SERVER['argv'][0])) {
 
 // sometimes default PHP settings are borked on shared hosting servers, I wonder why they have to do that??
 ini_set('precision', 14); // needed for upgrades and gradebook
-ini_set('serialize_precision', 17); // Make float serialization consistent on all systems.
+ini_set('serialize_precision', -1); // Make float serialization consistent on all systems.
 
 // Scripts may request no debug and error messages in output
 // please note it must be defined before including the config.php script