diff --git a/CMake/SiloFindHDF5.cmake b/CMake/SiloFindHDF5.cmake
index c2806447..3e2a3b85 100644
--- a/CMake/SiloFindHDF5.cmake
+++ b/CMake/SiloFindHDF5.cmake
@@ -62,8 +62,47 @@ if(DEFINED SILO_HDF5_DIR AND EXISTS ${SILO_HDF5_DIR})
     set(HDF5_ROOT ${SILO_HDF5_DIR})
 endif()
 
+function(_silo_hdf5_detect_zlib_support_from_header out_var)
+    set(_header_candidates)
+    foreach(_include_dir ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR})
+        if(_include_dir)
+            list(APPEND _header_candidates
+                "${_include_dir}/H5pubconf.h"
+                "${_include_dir}/hdf5/H5pubconf.h")
+        endif()
+    endforeach()
+    list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES _header_candidates)
+
+    foreach(_header IN LISTS _header_candidates)
+        if(EXISTS "${_header}")
+            file(STRINGS "${_header}" _zlib_markers
+                 REGEX "^#define H5_HAVE_FILTER_DEFLATE 1$|^#define H5_HAVE_ZLIB_H 1$")
+            if(_zlib_markers)
+                set(${out_var} TRUE PARENT_SCOPE)
+                return()
+            endif()
+        endif()
+    endforeach()
+
+    set(${out_var} FALSE PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
 find_package(HDF5)
 
+# Prefer the concrete imported HDF5 C library targets before HDF5::HDF5.
+# CMake's FindHDF5 module may synthesize HDF5::HDF5 with a flattened raw
+# libhdf5.a link interface even when the upstream package also exports
+# hdf5-static/hdf5-shared with the full transitive dependency set.
+unset(HDF5_C_TARGET)
+set(HDF5_HAS_IMPORTED_C_TARGET FALSE)
+foreach(_hdf5_c_target hdf5-shared hdf5-static hdf5::hdf5-shared hdf5::hdf5-static hdf5::hdf5 HDF5::HDF5)
+    if(TARGET ${_hdf5_c_target})
+        set(HDF5_C_TARGET ${_hdf5_c_target})
+        set(HDF5_HAS_IMPORTED_C_TARGET TRUE)
+        break()
+    endif()
+endforeach()
+
 if(NOT HDF5_FOUND)
     include(FindPackageHandleStandardArgs)
     
@@ -86,6 +125,7 @@ if(NOT HDF5_FOUND)
         set_target_properties(HDF5::HDF5 PROPERTIES
             IMPORTED_LOCATION "${HDF5_LIBRARY}"
             INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+        set(HDF5_C_TARGET HDF5::HDF5)
     endif()
     
 endif()
@@ -95,16 +135,21 @@ if(HDF5_FOUND)
     set(HAVE_HDF5_H 1)
     set(HAVE_HDF5_DRIVER 1)
     set(HAVE_LIBHDF5 1)
+    set(HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT FALSE)
+
+    if(DEFINED HDF5_ENABLE_Z_LIB_SUPPORT)
+        set(HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT ${HDF5_ENABLE_Z_LIB_SUPPORT})
+    elseif(NOT HDF5_HAS_IMPORTED_C_TARGET)
+        _silo_hdf5_detect_zlib_support_from_header(HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT)
+    endif()
 
 
     # On Windows need to have hdf5's dll installed with browser/silex
     # in order for the executables to work
     if(WIN32)
-
-        get_target_property(HDF5_DLL ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES} IMPORTED_LOCATION_RELEASE)
-
-        # DLL may also be needed by testing infrastructure
-        get_target_property(HDF5_DLL ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES} IMPORTED_LOCATION_RELEASE )
+        if(HDF5_C_TARGET)
+            get_target_property(HDF5_DLL ${HDF5_C_TARGET} IMPORTED_LOCATION_RELEASE)
+        endif()
         if(HDF5_DLL AND (SILO_ENABLE_SILEX OR SILO_ENABLE_BROWSER))
             install(FILES ${HDF5_DLL} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}
                     PERMISSIONS OWNER_READ OWNER_WRITE
@@ -120,4 +165,3 @@ if(HDF5_FOUND)
 else()
     message(FATAL_ERROR "An explicit request for HDF5 was made but HDF5 was not found. You may want to try setting SILO_HDF5_DIR")
 endif()
-
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cb5756ca..9fd66ae6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -241,14 +241,32 @@ if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5)
 endif()
 
 ##
-# Zlib  needed for hzip (non-BSD)
-#     On Windows, if HDF5 was built with zlib support, need to find the zlib package
-#     so that the correct path to the dll can be found and copied to the necessary places
+# Zlib  needed for hzip (non-BSD) and for HDF5 builds that use deflate.
+#     When HDF5 is not discovered with a complete imported target, SiloFindHDF5
+#     determines HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT from HDF5's installed metadata.
 ##
-if(SILO_ENABLE_HZIP OR (WIN32 AND HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT))
+if(SILO_ENABLE_HZIP OR HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT)
     include(SiloFindZlib)
 endif()
 
+function(silo_target_link_hdf5 target_name)
+    if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5 AND HDF5_FOUND)
+        if(HDF5_C_TARGET)
+            target_link_libraries(${target_name} ${HDF5_C_TARGET})
+        else()
+            target_link_libraries(${target_name} ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES})
+            if(HDF5_PROVIDES_ZLIB_SUPPORT AND ZLIB_FOUND)
+                if(TARGET ZLIB::ZLIB)
+                    target_link_libraries(${target_name} ZLIB::ZLIB)
+                elseif(ZLIB_LIBRARY)
+                    target_link_libraries(${target_name} ${ZLIB_LIBRARY})
+                endif()
+            endif()
+        endif()
+        target_include_directories(${target_name} PRIVATE ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    endif()
+endfunction()
+
 ##
 # szip  if HDF5 was built with szip support on Windows (needed to find dll's)
 ##
@@ -734,8 +752,7 @@ if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5 AND HDF5_FOUND)
     # with HDF5, will use $<TARGET_LINKER_FILE:silo> in place of plain 'silo'
     # when telling broswer and silex to link with silo
     set_target_properties(silo PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME siloh5)
-    target_link_libraries(silo ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES})
-    target_include_directories(silo PRIVATE ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    silo_target_link_hdf5(silo)
 endif()
 
 if(SILO_ENABLE_JSON AND JSONC_FOUND)
diff --git a/tests/CMake/SiloTestFunctions.cmake b/tests/CMake/SiloTestFunctions.cmake
index 86529b04..c59239f6 100644
--- a/tests/CMake/SiloTestFunctions.cmake
+++ b/tests/CMake/SiloTestFunctions.cmake
@@ -114,12 +114,10 @@ function(silo_add_test)
     set_target_properties(${sat_NAME} PROPERTIES FOLDER testing/tests)
 
     if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5 AND HDF5_FOUND)
-        target_link_libraries(${sat_NAME} ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES})
-        target_include_directories(${sat_NAME} PRIVATE ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+        silo_target_link_hdf5(${sat_NAME})
     endif()
 
     if(WIN32)
         target_compile_definitions(${sat_NAME} PRIVATE PDB_LITE)
     endif()
 endfunction()
-
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index d4e48f4e..00512726 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -437,8 +437,7 @@ foreach(src IN LISTS C_TEST_SOURCES CXX_TEST_SOURCES F_TEST_SOURCES)
     endif()
 
     if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5 AND HDF5_FOUND)
-        target_link_libraries(${base} ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES})
-        target_include_directories(${base} PRIVATE ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+        silo_target_link_hdf5(${base})
     endif()
 
     if(SILO_ENABLE_JSON AND JSONC_FOUND)
diff --git a/tools/browser/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/browser/CMakeLists.txt
index b4a76772..5bc384a2 100644
--- a/tools/browser/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/browser/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ endif()
 target_link_libraries(browser ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
 
 if(SILO_ENABLE_HDF5 AND HDF5_FOUND)
-    target_link_libraries(browser ${HDF5_C_LIBRARIES})
+    silo_target_link_hdf5(browser)
 endif()
 
 if(SILO_BUILD_FOR_ASAN)
@@ -123,4 +123,3 @@ if(NOT WIN32)
                         WORLD_READ             WORLD_EXECUTE)
 endif()
 
-