diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fdbf7bae4d..895f97b8c3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -572,11 +572,9 @@ endif()
 find_package(ZLIB)
 if(ZLIB_FOUND)
   message(STATUS "Using shared zlib")
-  include_directories(${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 else()
   message(STATUS "Shared zlib not found, falling back to the static library")
   add_subdirectory(Externals/zlib)
-  include_directories(Externals/zlib)
 endif()
 
 if(NOT APPLE)
diff --git a/Externals/zlib/CMakeLists.txt b/Externals/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
index c95e282e00..a76e97b06a 100644
--- a/Externals/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Externals/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -77,3 +77,9 @@ set(ZLIB_SRCS
 )
 
 add_library(z STATIC ${ZLIB_SRCS} ${ZLIB_DLL_SRCS} ${ZLIB_PUBLIC_HDRS} ${ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS})
+add_library(ZLIB::ZLIB ALIAS z)
+
+target_include_directories(z
+PUBLIC
+    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+)
diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/CMakeLists.txt b/Source/Core/Core/CMakeLists.txt
index d42c959bc1..58a5254cb8 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -288,11 +288,11 @@ PUBLIC
   videonull
   videoogl
   videosoftware
-  z
 
 PRIVATE
   bdisasm
   ${LZO}
+  ZLIB::ZLIB
 )
 
 if (APPLE)
diff --git a/Source/Core/DiscIO/CMakeLists.txt b/Source/Core/DiscIO/CMakeLists.txt
index 28c528f986..5dfbc5fd59 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DiscIO/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Source/Core/DiscIO/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,3 +21,8 @@ add_library(discio
   WiiSaveBanner.cpp
   WiiWad.cpp
 )
+
+target_link_libraries(discio
+PRIVATE
+  ZLIB::ZLIB
+)