diff --git a/package/libtorrent/Config.in b/package/libtorrent/Config.in
index 48e6addef9..17a1f232e7 100644
--- a/package/libtorrent/Config.in
+++ b/package/libtorrent/Config.in
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBTORRENT
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
 	help
 	  BitTorrent library written in C++ for *nix
 
diff --git a/package/libtorrent/libtorrent.mk b/package/libtorrent/libtorrent.mk
index 633b86a869..ef1c75f039 100644
--- a/package/libtorrent/libtorrent.mk
+++ b/package/libtorrent/libtorrent.mk
@@ -6,13 +6,12 @@
 
 LIBTORRENT_VERSION = 0.13.6
 LIBTORRENT_SITE = http://rtorrent.net/downloads
-LIBTORRENT_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),openssl) \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB),zlib)
+LIBTORRENT_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf zlib \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),openssl)
 LIBTORRENT_CONF_OPTS = --enable-aligned \
 	--disable-instrumentation \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),--enable-openssl,--disable-openssl) \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB),--with-zlib=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr,--without-zlib)
+	--with-zlib=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),--enable-openssl,--disable-openssl)
 LIBTORRENT_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 LIBTORRENT_AUTORECONF = YES
 LIBTORRENT_LICENSE = GPLv2