diff --git a/Doc/library/gzip.rst b/Doc/library/gzip.rst
index c9d96085ef739d..4bf2a592cbd936 100644
--- a/Doc/library/gzip.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/gzip.rst
@@ -101,9 +101,12 @@ The module defines the following items:
    is no compression. The default is ``9``.
 
    The optional *mtime* argument is the timestamp requested by gzip. The time
-   is in Unix format, i.e., seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970.
-   If *mtime* is omitted or ``None``, the current time is used. Use *mtime* = 0
-   to generate a compressed stream that does not depend on creation time.
+   is in Unix format, i.e., seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970. Set
+   *mtime* to ``0`` to generate a compressed stream that does not depend on
+   creation time. If *mtime* is omitted or ``None``, the current time is used;
+   however, if the current time is outside the range 00:00:00 UTC, January 1,
+   1970 through 06:28:15 UTC, February 7, 2106, then the value ``0`` is used
+   instead.
 
    See below for the :attr:`mtime` attribute that is set when decompressing.
 
diff --git a/Lib/gzip.py b/Lib/gzip.py
index c00f51858de0f0..5285354d8c6e7a 100644
--- a/Lib/gzip.py
+++ b/Lib/gzip.py
@@ -188,8 +188,11 @@ def __init__(self, filename=None, mode=None,
 
         The optional mtime argument is the timestamp requested by gzip. The time
         is in Unix format, i.e., seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970.
-        If mtime is omitted or None, the current time is used. Use mtime = 0
-        to generate a compressed stream that does not depend on creation time.
+        Set mtime to 0 to generate a compressed stream that does not depend on
+        creation time. If mtime is omitted or None, the current time is used;
+        however, if the current time is outside the range 00:00:00 UTC, January
+        1, 1970 through 06:28:15 UTC, February 7, 2106, then the value 0 is used
+        instead.
 
         """
 
@@ -203,6 +206,9 @@ def __init__(self, filename=None, mode=None,
         if mode and 'b' not in mode:
             mode += 'b'
 
+        if mtime is not None and (mtime < 0 or mtime >= 2**32):
+            raise ValueError(f'mtime must be in the range 0 through {2**32-1}')
+
         try:
             if fileobj is None:
                 fileobj = self.myfileobj = builtins.open(filename, mode or 'rb')
@@ -297,6 +303,8 @@ def _write_gzip_header(self, compresslevel):
         mtime = self._write_mtime
         if mtime is None:
             mtime = time.time()
+            if mtime < 0 or mtime >= 2**32:
+                mtime = 0
         write32u(self.fileobj, int(mtime))
         if compresslevel == _COMPRESS_LEVEL_BEST:
             xfl = b'\002'
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_gzip.py b/Lib/test/test_gzip.py
index fa5de7c190e6a3..0882c823d57410 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_gzip.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_gzip.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import unittest
 import warnings
 from subprocess import PIPE, Popen
+from unittest import mock
 from test.support import catch_unraisable_exception
 from test.support import import_helper
 from test.support import os_helper
@@ -351,6 +352,26 @@ def test_mtime(self):
             self.assertEqual(dataRead, data1)
             self.assertEqual(fRead.mtime, mtime)
 
+    def test_mtime_out_of_range(self):
+        # ValueError should be raised when mtime<0 or mtime>=2**32 and is
+        # explicitly specified
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            with gzip.GzipFile(self.filename, 'w', mtime=-1) as fWrite:
+                pass
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            with gzip.GzipFile(self.filename, 'w', mtime=2**32) as fWrite:
+                pass
+
+        # mtime should be set to 0 when time.time() is out of range and mtime is
+        # not explicitly given
+        for mtime in (-1, 2**32):
+            with mock.patch('time.time', return_value=float(mtime)):
+                with gzip.GzipFile(self.filename, 'w') as fWrite:
+                    fWrite.write(data1)
+                with gzip.GzipFile(self.filename) as fRead:
+                    fRead.read()
+                    self.assertEqual(fRead.mtime, 0)
+
     def test_metadata(self):
         mtime = 123456789
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-05-19-20-29-35.gh-issue-133998.KmElUw.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-05-19-20-29-35.gh-issue-133998.KmElUw.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..37177cdcb5e4b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-05-19-20-29-35.gh-issue-133998.KmElUw.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix ``struct.error`` exception when creating a file with ``gzip.GzipFile()`` if the system time is outside the range 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970 through 06:28:15 UTC, February 7, 2106.