diff --git a/Projects/zlib.cmake b/Projects/zlib.cmake
index 8adf9756cf32d6172ad2b7a3ba7d7817c3498a06..a1145b842d5d78e8fdb2aa1fad44ab875810190c 100644
--- a/Projects/zlib.cmake
+++ b/Projects/zlib.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
-
 # zlib supports cmake. the only problem is that we need to remove the zconf.h
 # file.
-add_external_project(
+add_external_project_or_use_system(
   zlib
   # remove the zconf.h as a patch step.
   PATCH_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E remove -f <SOURCE_DIR>/zconf.h
diff --git a/Projects/zlib.use.system.cmake b/Projects/zlib.use.system.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ff28b3da554da9438dc877974047f9943b28a5ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Projects/zlib.use.system.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+find_package(ZLIB)
+
+add_extra_cmake_args(
+   -DZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR}
+   -DZLIB_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${ZLIB_LIBRARY}
+)