diff --git a/tools/ports/freetype.py b/tools/ports/freetype.py
index 117fdcb7819b..10fa0a33bd78 100644
--- a/tools/ports/freetype.py
+++ b/tools/ports/freetype.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 HASH = '0d0b1280ba0501ad0a23cf1daa1f86821c722218b59432734d3087a89acd22aabd5c3e5e1269700dcd41e87073046e906060f167c032eb91a3ac8c5808a02783'
 
 variants = {'freetype-wasm-sjlj': {'SUPPORT_LONGJMP': 'wasm'}}
+deps = ['zlib']
 
 
 def needed(settings):
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ def create(final):
 
     flags = [
       '-DFT2_BUILD_LIBRARY',
+      '-DFT_CONFIG_OPTION_SYSTEM_ZLIB',
       '-I' + source_path + '/include',
       '-I' + source_path + '/truetype',
       '-I' + source_path + '/sfnt',