diff --git a/Package.swift b/Package.swift
index 3e7ef3e..4343ddb 100644
--- a/Package.swift
+++ b/Package.swift
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ let package = Package(
             name: "ContainerRegistryTests",
             dependencies: [.target(name: "ContainerRegistry")],
             resources: [.process("Resources")]
-        ),
+        ), .testTarget(name: "containertoolTests", dependencies: [.target(name: "containertool")]),
     ],
     swiftLanguageModes: [.v6]
 )
diff --git a/Sources/containertool/gzip.swift b/Sources/containertool/gzip.swift
index 2234b5f..6db9b4d 100644
--- a/Sources/containertool/gzip.swift
+++ b/Sources/containertool/gzip.swift
@@ -35,10 +35,36 @@ func gzip(_ bytes: [UInt8]) -> [UInt8] {
     stream.zfree = nil
     stream.opaque = nil
 
+    // Force identical gzip headers to be created on Linux and macOS.
+    //
+    // RFC1952 defines operating system codes which can be embedded in the gzip header.
+    //
+    // * Initially, zlib generated a default gzip header with the
+    //   OS field set to `Unknown` (255).
+    // * https://github.com/madler/zlib/commit/0484693e1723bbab791c56f95597bd7dbe867d03
+    //   changed the default to `Unix` (3).
+    // * https://github.com/madler/zlib/commit/ce12c5cd00628bf8f680c98123a369974d32df15
+    //   changed the default to use a value based on the OS detected
+    //   at compile time.  After this, zlib on Linux continued to
+    //   use `Unix` (3) whereas macOS started to use `Apple` (19).
+    //
+    // According to RFC1952 Section 2.3.1.2. (Compliance), `Unknown`
+    // 255 should be used by default where the OS on which the file
+    // was created is not known.
+    //
+    // Different versions of zlib might still produce different
+    // compressed output for the same input,  but using the same default
+    // value removes one one source of differences between platforms.
+
+    let gz_os_unknown = Int32(255)
+    var header = gz_header()
+    header.os = gz_os_unknown
+
     let windowBits: Int32 = 15 + 16
     let level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION
     let memLevel: Int32 = 8
     let rc = CNIOExtrasZlib_deflateInit2(&stream, level, Z_DEFLATED, windowBits, memLevel, Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY)
+    deflateSetHeader(&stream, &header)
 
     precondition(rc == Z_OK, "Unexpected return from zlib init: \(rc)")
 
diff --git a/Tests/containertoolTests/ZlibTests.swift b/Tests/containertoolTests/ZlibTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9152ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/containertoolTests/ZlibTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+//
+// This source file is part of the SwiftContainerPlugin open source project
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2024 Apple Inc. and the SwiftContainerPlugin project authors
+// Licensed under Apache License v2.0
+//
+// See LICENSE.txt for license information
+// See CONTRIBUTORS.txt for the list of SwiftContainerPlugin project authors
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+import Foundation
+@testable import containertool
+import Crypto
+import XCTest
+
+class ZlibTests: XCTestCase, @unchecked Sendable {
+    // Check that compressing the same data on macOS and Linux produces the same output.
+    func testGzipHeader() async throws {
+        let data = "test"
+
+        let result = gzip([UInt8](data.utf8))
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            "\(SHA256.hash(data: result))",
+            "SHA256 digest: 7dff8d09129482017247cb373e8138772e852a1a02f097d1440387055d2be69c"
+        )
+    }
+}