The Debye temperature θD of AIBIIICVI2 chalcopyrites and CuBIII3CVI5 and CuBIII5CVI8 ordered defect compounds is calculated from the bulk modulus B0 using a modified version of the Madelung–Einstein relation. Owing to the lack of reported values of the elastic constants for most of these compounds, values of B0 for chalcopyrites obtained from energy dispersive X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy techniques under high pressure, and ultrasonic measurements, are used in the analysis. Whenever possible these results are compared with those obtained from other elastic moduli, which are expected to be more reliable in predicting θD of crystalline solids, such as an elastic modulus Gt that is an average of the elastic constants characteristic of the low-energy transversal acoustic phonon modes and the shear modulus G0. Values of θD of AIBIIICVI2 chalcopyrites calculated from B0 are in reasonable agreement with those obtained from Gt and G0. Values of θD of CuBIII3CVI5 and CuBIII5CVI8 ordered defect compounds are estimated from the chalcopyrites data by taking into account the number of atoms in the crystallographic unit cell.