How to Install zlib on Ubuntu

zlib is the ubiquitous compression library behind gzip, PNG, PDF, and countless ./configure scripts that check for zlib.h. On Ubuntu you rarely hunt a package literally named zlib—the distro ships zlib1g (runtime) and zlib1g-dev (headers and pkg-config files). If you are compiling CMake projects, Python extensions, or scientific stacks and hit could not find the zlib library, you almost always need the -dev package.

This guide shows how to install zlib on Ubuntu with apt, verify the install, link a small test program with -lz, and optionally build zlib 1.3.1 from the official upstream release. I ran the commands on Ubuntu 25.04 and kept real output below.

Tested on: Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin); kernel 6.14.0-37-generic; zlib 1.3.1 (zlib1g / zlib1g-dev).

Quick command summary

Choose an install path

For most Ubuntu developers, sudo apt install zlib1g-dev is the entire fix when a build stops with zlib errors.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, or newer (25.04 tested here) on amd64 or arm64.
• sudo for apt installs.
• For source builds: build-essential, wget or curl, and tar.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential pkg-config wget

zlib1g vs zlib1g-dev

Ask Ubuntu documents the common mistake: installing only zlib1g leaves pkg-config without zlib.pc, so ./configure reports could not find the zlib library. Install zlib1g-dev.

On Debian-derived systems the development package is zlib1g-dev (not the older GraalVM doc name libz-dev, which is not published on current Ubuntu indexes).

Install zlib1g (runtime library)

Refresh indexes and inspect what apt offers:

sudo apt update
apt-cache policy zlib1g zlib1g-dev

On Ubuntu 25.04:

zlib1g:
  Installed: 1:1.3.dfsg+really1.3.1-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:1.3.dfsg+really1.3.1-1ubuntu1
zlib1g-dev:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:1.3.dfsg+really1.3.1-1ubuntu1

Install or refresh the runtime package:

sudo apt install -y zlib1g

Key files from dpkg -L zlib1g (paths may use /usr/lib/... on newer releases):

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1.3.1
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1

That is enough for binaries that already link libz—it does not install zlib.h.

Install zlib1g-dev for compiling

This is the package you want before running ./configure, cmake, or pip install on modules that compile C extensions:

sudo apt install -y zlib1g-dev

Development files land in standard locations:

/usr/include/zlib.h
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.a
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pkgconfig/zlib.pc

Verify with pkg-config

pkg-config --modversion zlib
pkg-config --cflags --libs zlib

1.3.1
-lz

SysTutorials and most build systems use this check—if pkg-config returns a version, autotools and CMake usually find zlib next.

Quick compile and link test

cat > /tmp/zlib-test.c <<'EOF'
#include <stdio.h>
#include <zlib.h>
int main(void) {
    printf("zlib version: %s\n", zlibVersion());
    return 0;
}
EOF
gcc -o /tmp/zlib-test /tmp/zlib-test.c -lz
/tmp/zlib-test

zlib version: 1.3.1

If that prints a version string, headers and -lz linking work.

Optional: build zlib from upstream source

Use upstream only when apt’s version is not enough. Download the current stable release from madler/zlib on GitHub:

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/madler/zlib/releases/download/v1.3.1/zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
tar -xzf zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
cd zlib-1.3.1
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make -j"$(nproc)"
sudo make install

The ./configure step on Ubuntu 25.04 ended with:

Checking for vsnprintf() in stdio.h... Yes.
Checking for return value of vsnprintf()... Yes.
Checking for attribute(visibility) support... Yes.

After make install, confirm:

ls /usr/local/include/zlib.h /usr/local/lib/libz.so.1.3.1

When linking against this custom prefix:

export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include"
export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"

Uninstall

Development package only (safe for most workflows):

sudo apt purge -y zlib1g-dev

Avoid purging zlib1g unless you know nothing on the system needs libz—apt-cache rdepends zlib1g lists a long dependency chain.

Custom source install under /usr/local:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/zlib.h /usr/local/include/zconf.h
sudo rm -f /usr/local/lib/libz.*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/zlib.pc
sudo ldconfig

Troubleshooting

References

• zlib home and madler/zlib releases
• Ask Ubuntu — configure could not find the zlib library
• It's FOSS — install zlib on Ubuntu
• Install cURL on Ubuntu (another common build dependency)
• wget command

Summary

Installing zlib on Ubuntu means picking the right apt name: zlib1g for the shared runtime library and zlib1g-dev when you compile software that needs zlib.h or pkg-config --modversion zlib. Skip sudo apt install zlib—that package does not exist. Verify with pkg-config, link a quick test with gcc ... -lz, and reach for the 1.3.1 source tarball only when apt’s version is not enough for your project.