diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index d2290de35..a1502149e 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@
 [submodule "libcxx"]
 	path = native/src/external/libcxx
 	url = https://github.com/topjohnwu/libcxx.git
-[submodule "zlib"]
-	path = native/src/external/zlib
-	url = https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/zlib
 [submodule "zopfli"]
 	path = native/src/external/zopfli
 	url = https://github.com/google/zopfli.git
diff --git a/native/src/Android.mk b/native/src/Android.mk
index aa16a3e85..d60ab3cbb 100644
--- a/native/src/Android.mk
+++ b/native/src/Android.mk
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES := \
     liblzma \
     liblz4 \
     libbz2 \
-    libz \
     libzopfli \
     libboot-rs
 
diff --git a/native/src/Cargo.lock b/native/src/Cargo.lock
index 302ccafd2..58b4df3d9 100644
--- a/native/src/Cargo.lock
+++ b/native/src/Cargo.lock
@@ -452,6 +452,15 @@ version = "0.2.170"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "875b3680cb2f8f71bdcf9a30f38d48282f5d3c95cbf9b3fa57269bb5d5c06828"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libz-rs-sys"
+version = "0.4.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "902bc563b5d65ad9bba616b490842ef0651066a1a1dc3ce1087113ffcb873c8d"
+dependencies = [
+ "zlib-rs",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "log"
 version = "0.4.26"
@@ -489,6 +498,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "der",
  "digest",
  "fdt",
+ "libz-rs-sys",
  "num-traits",
  "p256",
  "p384",
@@ -1048,3 +1058,9 @@ dependencies = [
  "quote",
  "syn",
 ]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zlib-rs"
+version = "0.4.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8b20717f0917c908dc63de2e44e97f1e6b126ca58d0e391cee86d504eb8fbd05"
diff --git a/native/src/Cargo.toml b/native/src/Cargo.toml
index 8e0f4f91b..17374a381 100644
--- a/native/src/Cargo.toml
+++ b/native/src/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ syn = "2"
 quote = "1"
 proc-macro2 = "1"
 argh = { version = "0.1.13", default-features = false }
+libz-rs-sys = { version = "0.4.2", default-features = false, features=["c-allocator"] }
 
 # Pin version to prevent cargo update break builds
 block-buffer = "=0.11.0-rc.3"
diff --git a/native/src/boot/Cargo.toml b/native/src/boot/Cargo.toml
index e02ff6943..ffa9af7c9 100644
--- a/native/src/boot/Cargo.toml
+++ b/native/src/boot/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,3 +32,4 @@ der = { workspace = true, features = ["derive", "pem"] }
 fdt = { workspace = true }
 bytemuck = { workspace = true, features = ["derive", "min_const_generics"] }
 num-traits = { workspace = true }
+libz-rs-sys = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/native/src/boot/compress.cpp b/native/src/boot/compress.cpp
index 49daa32e1..cb099c666 100644
--- a/native/src/boot/compress.cpp
+++ b/native/src/boot/compress.cpp
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ class zopfli_encoder : public chunk_out_stream {
 public:
     explicit zopfli_encoder(out_strm_ptr &&base) :
         chunk_out_stream(std::move(base), ZOPFLI_MASTER_BLOCK_SIZE),
-        zo{}, out(nullptr), outsize(0), crc(crc32_z(0L, Z_NULL, 0)), in_total(0), bp(0) {
+        zo{}, out(nullptr), outsize(0), crc(crc32(0L, Z_NULL, 0)), in_total(0), bp(0) {
         ZopfliInitOptions(&zo);
 
         // This config is already better than gzip -9
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ protected:
         auto in = static_cast<const unsigned char *>(buf);
 
         in_total += len;
-        crc = crc32_z(crc, in, len);
+        crc = crc32(crc, in, len);
 
         ZopfliDeflatePart(&zo, 2, final, in, 0, len, &bp, &out, &outsize);
 
diff --git a/native/src/boot/lib.rs b/native/src/boot/lib.rs
index a85ac1c90..43f03e457 100644
--- a/native/src/boot/lib.rs
+++ b/native/src/boot/lib.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #![feature(iter_intersperse)]
 #![feature(try_blocks)]
 
+pub use libz_rs_sys::*;
 pub use base;
 use cpio::cpio_commands;
 use dtb::dtb_commands;
diff --git a/native/src/external/Android.mk b/native/src/external/Android.mk
index 60c13de90..083ba4803 100644
--- a/native/src/external/Android.mk
+++ b/native/src/external/Android.mk
@@ -233,33 +233,6 @@ LOCAL_SRC_FILES := \
     lsplt/lsplt/src/main/jni/lsplt.cc
 include $(BUILD_STATIC_LIBRARY)
 
-# libz.a
-include $(CLEAR_VARS)
-LOCAL_MODULE:= libz
-LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_PATH)/zlib
-LOCAL_EXPORT_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_C_INCLUDES)
-LOCAL_CFLAGS := \
-    -DHAVE_HIDDEN -DZLIB_CONST -Wall -Werror \
-    -Wno-unused -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-deprecated-non-prototype
-LOCAL_SRC_FILES := \
-    zlib/adler32.c \
-    zlib/compress.c \
-    zlib/cpu_features.c \
-    zlib/crc32.c \
-    zlib/deflate.c \
-    zlib/gzclose.c \
-    zlib/gzlib.c \
-    zlib/gzread.c \
-    zlib/gzwrite.c \
-    zlib/infback.c \
-    zlib/inffast.c \
-    zlib/inflate.c \
-    zlib/inftrees.c \
-    zlib/trees.c \
-    zlib/uncompr.c \
-    zlib/zutil.c
-include $(BUILD_STATIC_LIBRARY)
-
 # libzopfli.a
 include $(CLEAR_VARS)
 LOCAL_MODULE:= libzopfli
diff --git a/native/src/external/zlib b/native/src/external/zlib
deleted file mode 160000
index 3a0aa2b3d..000000000
--- a/native/src/external/zlib
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 3a0aa2b3df38ad6298f91c4d8afef708bb4f088e