diff --git a/cli/tests/unit_node/zlib_test.ts b/cli/tests/unit_node/zlib_test.ts
index 96d392d1db2ce7..6b09c50b0853e5 100644
--- a/cli/tests/unit_node/zlib_test.ts
+++ b/cli/tests/unit_node/zlib_test.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   brotliDecompressSync,
   createBrotliCompress,
   createBrotliDecompress,
+  createDeflate,
 } from "node:zlib";
 import { Buffer } from "node:buffer";
 import { createReadStream, createWriteStream } from "node:fs";
@@ -60,3 +61,20 @@ Deno.test("brotli compression", async () => {
     // pass
   }
 });
+
+Deno.test(
+  "zlib create deflate with dictionary",
+  { sanitizeResources: false },
+  async () => {
+    const promise = deferred();
+    const handle = createDeflate({
+      dictionary: Buffer.alloc(0),
+    });
+
+    handle.on("close", () => promise.resolve());
+    handle.end();
+    handle.destroy();
+
+    await promise;
+  },
+);
diff --git a/ext/node/ops/zlib/mod.rs b/ext/node/ops/zlib/mod.rs
index 3d58d16f9476c1..2ddf6f2cd43b03 100644
--- a/ext/node/ops/zlib/mod.rs
+++ b/ext/node/ops/zlib/mod.rs
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ pub fn op_zlib_init(
   window_bits: i32,
   mem_level: i32,
   strategy: i32,
-  dictionary: Option<&[u8]>,
+  dictionary: &[u8],
 ) -> Result<i32, AnyError> {
   let resource = zlib(state, handle)?;
   let mut zlib = resource.inner.borrow_mut();
@@ -373,7 +373,11 @@ pub fn op_zlib_init(
 
   zlib.init_stream()?;
 
-  zlib.dictionary = dictionary.map(|buf| buf.to_vec());
+  zlib.dictionary = if !dictionary.is_empty() {
+    Some(dictionary.to_vec())
+  } else {
+    None
+  };
 
   Ok(zlib.err)
 }
diff --git a/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib.mjs b/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib.mjs
index f7336580007a62..a66ab6d0460da7 100644
--- a/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib.mjs
+++ b/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib.mjs
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ import util from "node:util";
 import { ok as assert } from "node:assert";
 import { zlib as zlibConstants } from "ext:deno_node/internal_binding/constants.ts";
 import { nextTick } from "ext:deno_node/_next_tick.ts";
+import {
+  isAnyArrayBuffer,
+  isArrayBufferView,
+} from "ext:deno_node/internal/util/types.ts";
 
 var kRangeErrorMessage = "Cannot create final Buffer. It would be larger " +
   "than 0x" + kMaxLength.toString(16) + " bytes";
@@ -321,9 +325,12 @@ function Zlib(opts, mode) {
     }
   }
 
-  if (opts.dictionary) {
-    if (!Buffer.isBuffer(opts.dictionary)) {
-      throw new Error("Invalid dictionary: it should be a Buffer instance");
+  let dictionary = opts.dictionary;
+  if (dictionary !== undefined && !isArrayBufferView(dictionary)) {
+    if (isAnyArrayBuffer(dictionary)) {
+      dictionary = Buffer.from(dictionary);
+    } else {
+      throw new TypeError("Invalid dictionary");
     }
   }
 
@@ -354,7 +361,7 @@ function Zlib(opts, mode) {
     level,
     opts.memLevel || zlibConstants.Z_DEFAULT_MEMLEVEL,
     strategy,
-    opts.dictionary,
+    dictionary,
   );
 
   this._buffer = Buffer.allocUnsafe(this._chunkSize);
diff --git a/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib_binding.mjs b/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib_binding.mjs
index a04e7fed75d057..0b155cfd51657a 100644
--- a/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib_binding.mjs
+++ b/ext/node/polyfills/_zlib_binding.mjs
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ class Zlib {
       windowBits,
       memLevel,
       strategy,
-      dictionary,
+      dictionary ?? new Uint8Array(0),
     );
 
     if (err != Z_OK) {