diff --git a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
index 958b9ff3f9e..261dc758382 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/all-packages-generic.nix
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
 
+  zdelta = (import ../tools/compression/zdelta) {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+  };
+
   which = (import ../tools/system/which) {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix b/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
index c1fe8678ede..12621d727a7 100644
--- a/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
+++ b/pkgs/system/populate-cache.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ let {
     unzip
     gzip
     bzip2
+    zdelta
     wget
     par2cmdline
     cksfv
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/builder.sh b/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0760ae8357b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+. $stdenv/setup
+
+installPhase=installPhase
+installPhase() {
+    ensureDir $out/bin
+    cp -p zdc zdu $out/bin
+}
+
+genericBuild
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8bd6d8a0e16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/compression/zdelta/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "zdelta-2.1";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://cis.poly.edu/zdelta/downloads/zdelta-2.1.tar.gz;
+    md5 = "c69583a64f42f69a39e297d0d27d77e5";
+  };
+}