•Identification of antimycobacterial activity against nontuberculous mycobacteria of nitroxoline•Nitroxoline already approved for other infections with an established safety profile•Excellent in vitro activity against molecularly characterized clinical isolates of the Mycobacterium abscessuscomplex with antimicrobial resistance to currently used drugs.•Potential of repurposed use of nitroxoline because infections by mycobacteria are increasingly reported worldwide but too few novel drugs are being developed