diff --git a/package/poppler/Config.in b/package/poppler/Config.in
index 21c4d86cf6..208126a327 100644
--- a/package/poppler/Config.in
+++ b/package/poppler/Config.in
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_POPPLER
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_7 # C++17
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_FONTCONFIG
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
 	help
 	  Poppler is a PDF rendering library based on the xpdf-3.0
 	  code base.
diff --git a/package/poppler/poppler.mk b/package/poppler/poppler.mk
index 08214d38b4..535c2b7b10 100644
--- a/package/poppler/poppler.mk
+++ b/package/poppler/poppler.mk
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 POPPLER_VERSION = 25.10.0
 POPPLER_SOURCE = poppler-$(POPPLER_VERSION).tar.xz
 POPPLER_SITE = https://poppler.freedesktop.org
-POPPLER_DEPENDENCIES = fontconfig host-pkgconf
+POPPLER_DEPENDENCIES = fontconfig host-pkgconf zlib
 POPPLER_LICENSE = GPL-2.0+
 POPPLER_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 POPPLER_CPE_ID_VENDOR = freedesktop
@@ -95,13 +95,6 @@ else
 POPPLER_CONF_OPTS += -DENABLE_UTILS=OFF
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB),y)
-POPPLER_DEPENDENCIES += zlib
-POPPLER_CONF_OPTS += -DENABLE_ZLIB_UNCOMPRESS=ON
-else
-POPPLER_CONF_OPTS += -DENABLE_ZLIB_UNCOMPRESS=OFF
-endif
-
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_CAIRO),y)
 POPPLER_DEPENDENCIES += cairo
 POPPLER_CONF_OPTS += -DWITH_Cairo=ON