diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 1be803f..424e1c6 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
 
     const vosk_dep = b.dependency("vosk", .{});
 
+    const zlib_dep = b.dependency("zlib", .{
+        .target = target,
+        .optimize = optimize,
+    });
     // We need to use curl for this as the domain doesn't work with zig TLS
     const model_step = ModelDownloadStep.create(b);
 
@@ -30,6 +34,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     exe.linkLibC();
     exe.addIncludePath(vosk_dep.path(""));
     exe.addLibraryPath(vosk_dep.path(""));
+    exe.linkLibrary(zlib_dep.artifact("z"));
     exe.linkSystemLibrary("vosk");
     exe.linkSystemLibrary("asound");
 
diff --git a/build.zig.zon b/build.zig.zon
index de6f7f6..e06f2da 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon
+++ b/build.zig.zon
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@
             .url = "https://github.com/alphacep/vosk-api/releases/download/v0.3.45/vosk-linux-x86_64-0.3.45.zip",
             .hash = "N-V-__8AAF22jAFTSU4AVxFCNWtotf7OD8gM33Y_ScIrCeu7",
         },
+        .zlib = .{
+            .url = "git+https://github.com/allyourcodebase/zlib#61e7df7e996ec5a5f13a653db3c419adb340d6ef",
+            .hash = "zlib-1.3.1-ZZQ7lbYMAAB1hTSOKSXAKAgHsfDcyWNH_37ojw5WSpgR",
+        },
     },
     .paths = .{
         "build.zig",
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 4ba0282..554b5d7 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
         devShells.default = pkgs.mkShell {
           buildInputs = with pkgs; [
             pkg-config
-            zlib
+            # zlib # handled directly in zig build
             alsa-lib
             alsa-plugins
             SDL2