diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 957735f1d..4102f05fe 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ matrix:
             - libboost-system-dev
             - libboost-python-dev
             - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - zlib1g-dev
       env:
         - MATRIX_EVAL="CONFIG=gcc && CC=gcc-4.8 && CXX=g++-4.8"
 
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ matrix:
             - libboost-system-dev
             - libboost-python-dev
             - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - zlib1g-dev
       env:
         - MATRIX_EVAL="CONFIG=gcc && CC=gcc-6 && CXX=g++-6"
 
@@ -92,6 +94,7 @@ matrix:
             - libboost-system-dev
             - libboost-python-dev
             - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - zlib1g-dev
       env:
         - MATRIX_EVAL="CONFIG=gcc && CC=gcc-7 && CXX=g++-7"
 
@@ -121,6 +124,7 @@ matrix:
             - libboost-system-dev
             - libboost-python-dev
             - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - zlib1g-dev
       env:
         - MATRIX_EVAL="CONFIG=clang && CC=clang-3.8 && CXX=clang++-3.8"
 
@@ -149,6 +153,7 @@ matrix:
             - libboost-system-dev
             - libboost-python-dev
             - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - zlib1g-dev
       env:
         - MATRIX_EVAL="CONFIG=clang && CC=clang-5.0 && CXX=clang++-5.0"
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d33f27b63..ea804e0d5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ ENABLE_VERIFIC := 0
 ENABLE_COVER := 1
 ENABLE_LIBYOSYS := 0
 ENABLE_PROTOBUF := 0
+ENABLE_ZLIB := 1
 
 # python wrappers
 ENABLE_PYOSYS := 0
@@ -384,6 +385,12 @@ ifeq ($(ENABLE_GLOB),1)
 CXXFLAGS += -DYOSYS_ENABLE_GLOB
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(ENABLE_ZLIB),1)
+CXXFLAGS += -DYOSYS_ENABLE_ZLIB
+LDLIBS += -lz
+endif
+
+
 ifeq ($(ENABLE_TCL),1)
 TCL_VERSION ?= tcl$(shell bash -c "tclsh <(echo 'puts [info tclversion]')")
 ifeq ($(OS), FreeBSD)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9e221be38..2a7081304 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -67,13 +67,13 @@ prerequisites for building yosys:
 	$ sudo apt-get install build-essential clang bison flex \
 		libreadline-dev gawk tcl-dev libffi-dev git \
 		graphviz xdot pkg-config python3 libboost-system-dev \
-		libboost-python-dev libboost-filesystem-dev
+		libboost-python-dev libboost-filesystem-dev zlib1g-dev
 
 Similarily, on Mac OS X MacPorts or Homebrew can be used to install dependencies:
 
 	$ brew tap Homebrew/bundle && brew bundle
 	$ sudo port install bison flex readline gawk libffi \
-		git graphviz pkgconfig python36 boost
+		git graphviz pkgconfig python36 boost zlib
 
 On FreeBSD use the following command to install all prerequisites:
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ On FreeBSD system use gmake instead of make. To run tests use:
 
 For Cygwin use the following command to install all prerequisites, or select these additional packages:
 
-	setup-x86_64.exe -q --packages=bison,flex,gcc-core,gcc-g++,git,libffi-devel,libreadline-devel,make,pkg-config,python3,tcl-devel,boost-build
+	setup-x86_64.exe -q --packages=bison,flex,gcc-core,gcc-g++,git,libffi-devel,libreadline-devel,make,pkg-config,python3,tcl-devel,boost-build,zlib-devel
 
 There are also pre-compiled Yosys binary packages for Ubuntu and Win32 as well
 as a source distribution for Visual Studio. Visit the Yosys download page for
diff --git a/kernel/register.cc b/kernel/register.cc
index 26da96b95..4f1501330 100644
--- a/kernel/register.cc
+++ b/kernel/register.cc
@@ -25,6 +25,26 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
+#ifdef YOSYS_ENABLE_ZLIB
+#include <zlib.h>
+
+PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
+#define GZ_BUFFER_SIZE 8192
+void decompress_gzip(const std::string &filename, std::stringstream &out)
+{
+	char buffer[GZ_BUFFER_SIZE];
+	int bytes_read;
+	gzFile gzf = gzopen(filename.c_str(), "rb");
+	while(!gzeof(gzf)) {
+		bytes_read = gzread(gzf, reinterpret_cast<void *>(buffer), GZ_BUFFER_SIZE);
+		out.write(buffer, bytes_read);
+	}
+	gzclose(gzf);
+}
+PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_END
+
+#endif
+
 YOSYS_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
 
 #define MAX_REG_COUNT 1000
@@ -436,6 +456,26 @@ void Frontend::extra_args(std::istream *&f, std::string &filename, std::vector<s
 				delete ff;
 			else
 				f = ff;
+			// Check for gzip magic
+			unsigned char magic[3];
+			int n = readsome(*ff, reinterpret_cast<char*>(magic), 3);
+			if (n == 3 && magic[0] == 0x1f && magic[1] == 0x8b) {
+#ifdef YOSYS_ENABLE_ZLIB
+				log("Found gzip magic in file `%s', decompressing using zlib.\n", filename.c_str());
+				if (magic[2] != 8)
+					log_cmd_error("gzip file `%s' uses unsupported compression type %02x\n",
+						filename.c_str(), unsigned(magic[2]));
+				delete ff;
+				std::stringstream *df = new std::stringstream();
+				decompress_gzip(filename, *df);
+				f = df;
+#else
+				log_cmd_error("File `%s' is a gzip file, but Yosys is compiled without zlib.\n", filename.c_str());
+#endif
+			} else {
+				ff->clear();
+				ff->seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+			}
 		}
 		if (f == NULL)
 			log_cmd_error("Can't open input file `%s' for reading: %s\n", filename.c_str(), strerror(errno));
diff --git a/tests/various/gzip_verilog.v.gz b/tests/various/gzip_verilog.v.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c52a95358
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/various/gzip_verilog.v.gz differ
diff --git a/tests/various/gzip_verilog.ys b/tests/various/gzip_verilog.ys
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..870317e80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/various/gzip_verilog.ys
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+read_verilog gzip_verilog.v.gz
+select -assert-any top