diff --git a/src/IRPrinter.cpp b/src/IRPrinter.cpp
index 73ef8652c144..741775f26420 100644
--- a/src/IRPrinter.cpp
+++ b/src/IRPrinter.cpp
@@ -594,6 +594,11 @@ void IRPrinter::visit(const UIntImm *op) {
 }
 
 void IRPrinter::visit(const FloatImm *op) {
+    const bool use_scientific_format = (op->value != 0.0) && (std::log10(std::abs(op->value)) < -6);
+    if (use_scientific_format) {
+        stream << std::scientific;
+    }
+
     switch (op->type.bits()) {
     case 64:
         stream << op->value;
@@ -607,6 +612,10 @@ void IRPrinter::visit(const FloatImm *op) {
     default:
         internal_error << "Bad bit-width for float: " << op->type << "\n";
     }
+
+    if (use_scientific_format) {
+        stream << std::fixed;
+    }
 }
 
 void IRPrinter::visit(const StringImm *op) {