diff --git a/cmake/external_dependencies.cmake b/cmake/external_dependencies.cmake
index 17ddce5405e..80fb8989f90 100644
--- a/cmake/external_dependencies.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external_dependencies.cmake
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 if(PLATFORM_ANDROID AND ANDROID_BUILD_ZLIB)
     set(BUILD_ZLIB 1)
     message(STATUS "  Building Zlib as part of AWS SDK")
-elseif(NOT PLATFORM_WINDOWS AND NOT PLATFORM_CUSTOM)
-    #If zlib is required either by openssl and curl in their linking chain, we should find it.
+# If ENABLE_ZLIB_REQUEST_COMPRESSION is OFF, zlib check is skipped entirely
+elseif(NOT PLATFORM_WINDOWS AND NOT PLATFORM_CUSTOM AND
+       NOT ENABLE_ZLIB_REQUEST_COMPRESSION STREQUAL "OFF")
+    # If zlib is required either by openssl and curl in their linking chain, we should find it.
     include(FindZLIB)
     if(NOT ZLIB_FOUND)
         message(FATAL_ERROR "Could not find zlib")