diff --git a/BUILDING.txt b/BUILDING.txt
index 54e6ddd6315..02525718601 100644
--- a/BUILDING.txt
+++ b/BUILDING.txt
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ Requirements:
 * ProtocolBuffer 2.5.0
 * Windows SDK or Visual Studio 2010 Professional
 * Unix command-line tools from GnuWin32 or Cygwin: sh, mkdir, rm, cp, tar, gzip
+* zlib headers (if building native code bindings for zlib)
 * Internet connection for first build (to fetch all Maven and Hadoop dependencies)
 
 If using Visual Studio, it must be Visual Studio 2010 Professional (not 2012).
@@ -228,6 +229,18 @@ native code is built by enabling the 'native-win' Maven profile. -Pnative-win
 is enabled by default when building on Windows since the native components 
 are required (not optional) on Windows.
 
+If native code bindings for zlib are required, then the zlib headers must be
+deployed on the build machine.  Set the ZLIB_HOME environment variable to the
+directory containing the headers.
+
+set ZLIB_HOME=C:\zlib-1.2.7
+
+At runtime, zlib1.dll must be accessible on the PATH.  Hadoop has been tested
+with zlib 1.2.7, built using Visual Studio 2010 out of contrib\vstudio\vc10 in
+the zlib 1.2.7 source tree.
+
+http://www.zlib.net/
+
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Building distributions:
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 01729330fb6..2fcd9289429 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -164,6 +164,9 @@ Release 2.4.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-10449. Fix the javac warnings in the security package.  (szetszwo)
 
+    HADOOP-10450. Build zlib native code bindings in hadoop.dll for Windows.
+    (cnauroth)
+
   BREAKDOWN OF HADOOP-10184 SUBTASKS AND RELATED JIRAS
 
     HADOOP-10185. FileSystem API for ACLs. (cnauroth)
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/native.vcxproj b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/native.vcxproj
index 91a9db7f1c5..0d67e1ee940 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/native.vcxproj
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/native.vcxproj
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@
     <SnappyInclude Condition="Exists('$(CustomSnappyInclude)') And '$(SnappyInclude)' == ''">$(CustomSnappyInclude)</SnappyInclude>
     <SnappyEnabled Condition="'$(SnappyLib)' != '' And '$(SnappyInclude)' != ''">true</SnappyEnabled>
     <IncludePath Condition="'$(SnappyEnabled)' == 'true'">$(SnappyInclude);$(IncludePath)</IncludePath>
+    <IncludePath Condition="Exists('$(ZLIB_HOME)')">$(ZLIB_HOME);$(IncludePath)</IncludePath>
   </PropertyGroup>
   <Target Name="CheckRequireSnappy">
     <Error
@@ -92,6 +93,8 @@
     <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\snappy\SnappyDecompressor.c" Condition="'$(SnappyEnabled)' == 'true'">
       <AdditionalOptions>/D HADOOP_SNAPPY_LIBRARY=L\"snappy.dll\"</AdditionalOptions>
     </ClCompile>
+    <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\zlib\ZlibCompressor.c" Condition="Exists('$(ZLIB_HOME)')" />
+    <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\zlib\ZlibDecompressor.c" Condition="Exists('$(ZLIB_HOME)')" />
     <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\lz4\lz4.c" />
     <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\lz4\lz4hc.c" />
     <ClCompile Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\lz4\Lz4Compressor.c" />
@@ -109,6 +112,9 @@
     <ClInclude Include="..\src\org\apache\hadoop\util\crc32c_tables.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="..\src\org\apache\hadoop\util\crc32_zlib_polynomial_tables.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\snappy\org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_snappy.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\zlib\org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_zlib_ZlibCompressor.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\zlib\org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_zlib_ZlibDecompressor.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\compress\zlib\org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_zlib.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\io\nativeio\file_descriptor.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\util\bulk_crc32.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="src\org\apache\hadoop\util\crc32c_tables.h" />
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/ZlibCompressor.c b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/ZlibCompressor.c
index 98305c2e710..142f5eb4064 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/ZlibCompressor.c
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/zlib/ZlibCompressor.c
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ static int (*dlsym_deflateEnd)(z_streamp);
 #endif
 
 #ifdef WINDOWS
+#include "winutils.h"
 #include <Strsafe.h>
 typedef int (__cdecl *__dlsym_deflateInit2_) (z_streamp, int, int, int, int, int, const char *, int);
 typedef int (__cdecl *__dlsym_deflate) (z_streamp, int);
@@ -379,7 +380,16 @@ Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_zlib_ZlibCompressor_getLibraryName(JNIEnv *en
     }
   }
 #endif
-  return (*env)->NewStringUTF(env, HADOOP_ZLIB_LIBRARY);
+
+#ifdef WINDOWS
+  LPWSTR filename = NULL;
+  GetLibraryName(dlsym_deflateInit2_, &filename);
+  if (filename != NULL) {
+    return (*env)->NewString(env, filename, (jsize) wcslen(filename));
+  } else {
+    return (*env)->NewStringUTF(env, "Unavailable");
+  }
+#endif
 }
 
 /**