diff --git a/third_party/zlib/CMakeLists.txt b/third_party/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
index b412dc7feb732..0431278405046 100644
--- a/third_party/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/third_party/zlib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.4.4)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)
 set(CMAKE_ALLOW_LOOSE_LOOP_CONSTRUCTS ON)
 
 project(zlib C)
@@ -21,6 +21,26 @@ check_include_file(sys/types.h HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H)
 check_include_file(stdint.h    HAVE_STDINT_H)
 check_include_file(stddef.h    HAVE_STDDEF_H)
 
+option(ENABLE_SIMD_OPTIMIZATIONS "Enable all SIMD optimizations" OFF)
+
+# TODO(cavalcantii): add support for other OSes (e.g. Android, fuchsia, osx)
+# and architectures (e.g. Arm).
+if (ENABLE_SIMD_OPTIMIZATIONS)
+   add_definitions(-DINFLATE_CHUNK_SIMD_SSE2)
+   add_definitions(-DADLER32_SIMD_SSSE3)
+   add_definitions(-DINFLATE_CHUNK_READ_64LE)
+   add_definitions(-DCRC32_SIMD_SSE42_PCLMUL)
+   add_definitions(-DDEFLATE_SLIDE_HASH_SSE2)
+   add_compile_options(-msse4.2 -mpclmul)
+   # Required by CPU features detection code.
+   add_definitions(-DX86_NOT_WINDOWS)
+   # Apparently some environments (e.g. CentOS) require to explicitly link
+   # with pthread and that is required by the CPU features detection code.
+   find_package (Threads REQUIRED)
+   SET(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -pthread")
+   SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -pthread")
+endif()
+
 #
 # Check to see if we have large file support
 #
@@ -120,10 +140,25 @@ set(ZLIB_SRCS
     zutil.c
 )
 
-if(NOT MINGW)
-    set(ZLIB_DLL_SRCS
-        win32/zlib1.rc # If present will override custom build rule below.
-    )
+
+#============================================================================
+# Update list of source files if optimizations were enabled
+#============================================================================
+if (ENABLE_SIMD_OPTIMIZATIONS)
+  list(REMOVE_ITEM ZLIB_SRCS inflate.c)
+
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/adler32_simd.h)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/optimizations/chunkcopy.h)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/optimizations/inffast_chunk.h)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cpu_features.h)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_PRIVATE_HDRS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/crc32_simd.h)
+
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/adler32_simd.c)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/optimizations/inffast_chunk.c)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/optimizations/inflate.c)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cpu_features.c)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/crc32_simd.c)
+  list(APPEND ZLIB_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/crc_folding.c)
 endif()
 
 # parse the full version number from zlib.h and include in ZLIB_FULL_VERSION
@@ -191,23 +226,9 @@ if(NOT SKIP_INSTALL_FILES AND NOT SKIP_INSTALL_ALL )
 endif()
 
 #============================================================================
-# Example binaries
+# Benchmarker
 #============================================================================
-
-add_executable(example test/example.c)
-target_link_libraries(example zlib)
-add_test(example example)
-
-add_executable(minigzip test/minigzip.c)
-target_link_libraries(minigzip zlib)
-
-if(HAVE_OFF64_T)
-    add_executable(example64 test/example.c)
-    target_link_libraries(example64 zlib)
-    set_target_properties(example64 PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64")
-    add_test(example64 example64)
-
-    add_executable(minigzip64 test/minigzip.c)
-    target_link_libraries(minigzip64 zlib)
-    set_target_properties(minigzip64 PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64")
-endif()
+enable_language(CXX)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14) # workaround for older compilers (e.g. g++ 5.4).
+add_executable(zlib_bench contrib/bench/zlib_bench.cc)
+target_link_libraries(zlib_bench zlib)