diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/index/Serialization.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/index/Serialization.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/index/Serialization.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/index/Serialization.cpp
@@ -190,9 +190,9 @@
       RawTable.append(std::string(S));
       RawTable.push_back(0);
     }
-    if (llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+    if (llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
       llvm::SmallString<1> Compressed;
-      llvm::zlib::compress(RawTable, Compressed);
+      llvm::compression::zlib::compress(RawTable, Compressed);
       write32(RawTable.size(), OS);
       OS << Compressed;
     } else {
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@
   llvm::SmallString<1> UncompressedStorage;
   if (UncompressedSize == 0) // No compression
     Uncompressed = R.rest();
-  else if (llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+  else if (llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
     // Don't allocate a massive buffer if UncompressedSize was corrupted
     // This is effective for sharded index, but not big monolithic ones, as
     // once compressed size reaches 4MB nothing can be ruled out.
@@ -233,8 +233,8 @@
       return error("Bad stri table: uncompress {0} -> {1} bytes is implausible",
                    R.rest().size(), UncompressedSize);
 
-    if (llvm::Error E = llvm::zlib::uncompress(R.rest(), UncompressedStorage,
-                                               UncompressedSize))
+    if (llvm::Error E = llvm::compression::zlib::uncompress(
+            R.rest(), UncompressedStorage, UncompressedSize))
       return std::move(E);
     Uncompressed = UncompressedStorage;
   } else
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/SerializationTests.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/SerializationTests.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/SerializationTests.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/SerializationTests.cpp
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@
 // Check we detect invalid string table size size without allocating it first.
 // If this detection fails, the test should allocate a huge array and crash.
 TEST(SerializationTest, NoCrashOnBadStringTableSize) {
-  if (!llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+  if (!llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
     log("skipping test, no zlib");
     return;
   }
diff --git a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/Clang.cpp b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/Clang.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/Clang.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/Clang.cpp
@@ -1144,7 +1144,7 @@
     if (Value == "none") {
       CmdArgs.push_back("--compress-debug-sections=none");
     } else if (Value == "zlib") {
-      if (llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+      if (llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
         CmdArgs.push_back(
             Args.MakeArgString("--compress-debug-sections=" + Twine(Value)));
       } else {
diff --git a/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTReader.cpp b/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTReader.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTReader.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTReader.cpp
@@ -1462,13 +1462,13 @@
     unsigned RecCode = MaybeRecCode.get();
 
     if (RecCode == SM_SLOC_BUFFER_BLOB_COMPRESSED) {
-      if (!llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+      if (!llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
         Error("zlib is not available");
         return nullptr;
       }
       SmallString<0> Uncompressed;
-      if (llvm::Error E =
-              llvm::zlib::uncompress(Blob, Uncompressed, Record[0])) {
+      if (llvm::Error E = llvm::compression::zlib::uncompress(
+              Blob, Uncompressed, Record[0])) {
         Error("could not decompress embedded file contents: " +
               llvm::toString(std::move(E)));
         return nullptr;
diff --git a/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTWriter.cpp b/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTWriter.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTWriter.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/Serialization/ASTWriter.cpp
@@ -2001,8 +2001,8 @@
   // Compress the buffer if possible. We expect that almost all PCM
   // consumers will not want its contents.
   SmallString<0> CompressedBuffer;
-  if (llvm::zlib::isAvailable()) {
-    llvm::zlib::compress(Blob.drop_back(1), CompressedBuffer);
+  if (llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
+    llvm::compression::zlib::compress(Blob.drop_back(1), CompressedBuffer);
     RecordDataType Record[] = {SM_SLOC_BUFFER_BLOB_COMPRESSED, Blob.size() - 1};
     Stream.EmitRecordWithBlob(SLocBufferBlobCompressedAbbrv, Record,
                               CompressedBuffer);
diff --git a/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp b/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
--- a/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
@@ -951,7 +951,7 @@
     return false;
   if (s != "zlib")
     error("unknown --compress-debug-sections value: " + s);
-  if (!zlib::isAvailable())
+  if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable())
     error("--compress-debug-sections: zlib is not available");
   return true;
 }
diff --git a/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp b/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
--- a/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
   // If SHF_COMPRESSED is set, parse the header. The legacy .zdebug format is no
   // longer supported.
   if (flags & SHF_COMPRESSED) {
-    if (!zlib::isAvailable())
+    if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable())
       error(toString(file) + ": contains a compressed section, " +
             "but zlib is not available");
     invokeELFT(parseCompressedHeader);
@@ -122,7 +122,8 @@
     uncompressedBuf = bAlloc().Allocate<char>(size);
   }
 
-  if (Error e = zlib::uncompress(toStringRef(rawData), uncompressedBuf, size))
+  if (Error e = compression::zlib::uncompress(toStringRef(rawData),
+                                              uncompressedBuf, size))
     fatal(toString(this) +
           ": uncompress failed: " + llvm::toString(std::move(e)));
   rawData = makeArrayRef((uint8_t *)uncompressedBuf, size);
@@ -1217,7 +1218,8 @@
   // to the buffer.
   if (uncompressedSize >= 0) {
     size_t size = uncompressedSize;
-    if (Error e = zlib::uncompress(toStringRef(rawData), (char *)buf, size))
+    if (Error e = compression::zlib::uncompress(toStringRef(rawData),
+                                                (char *)buf, size))
       fatal(toString(this) +
             ": uncompress failed: " + llvm::toString(std::move(e)));
     uint8_t *bufEnd = buf + size;
diff --git a/llvm/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst b/llvm/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
--- a/llvm/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
+++ b/llvm/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
@@ -202,6 +202,11 @@
 * Add ``LLVMDeleteInstruction`` function which allows deleting instructions that
   are not inserted into a basic block.
 
+* Refactor compression namespaces across the project, making way for a possible
+  introduction of alternatives to zlib compression in the llvm toolchain.
+  Changes are as follows:
+  * Relocate the ``llvm::zlib`` namespace to ``llvm::compression::zlib``.
+
 Changes to the Go bindings
 --------------------------
 
diff --git a/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Compression.h b/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Compression.h
--- a/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Compression.h
+++ b/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Compression.h
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 class Error;
 class StringRef;
 
+namespace compression {
+
 namespace zlib {
 
 static constexpr int NoCompression = 0;
@@ -41,7 +43,9 @@
 
 uint32_t crc32(StringRef Buffer);
 
-}  // End of namespace zlib
+} // End of namespace zlib
+
+} // End of namespace compression
 
 } // End of namespace llvm
 
diff --git a/llvm/lib/MC/ELFObjectWriter.cpp b/llvm/lib/MC/ELFObjectWriter.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/MC/ELFObjectWriter.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/MC/ELFObjectWriter.cpp
@@ -876,8 +876,9 @@
   Asm.writeSectionData(VecOS, &Section, Layout);
 
   SmallVector<char, 128> CompressedContents;
-  zlib::compress(StringRef(UncompressedData.data(), UncompressedData.size()),
-                 CompressedContents);
+  compression::zlib::compress(
+      StringRef(UncompressedData.data(), UncompressedData.size()),
+      CompressedContents);
 
   bool ZlibStyle = MAI->compressDebugSections() == DebugCompressionType::Z;
   if (!maybeWriteCompression(UncompressedData.size(), CompressedContents,
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp b/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
@@ -468,8 +468,9 @@
       Sec.OriginalData.size() - DataOffset);
 
   SmallVector<char, 128> DecompressedContent;
-  if (Error Err = zlib::uncompress(CompressedContent, DecompressedContent,
-                                   static_cast<size_t>(Sec.Size)))
+  if (Error Err =
+          compression::zlib::uncompress(CompressedContent, DecompressedContent,
+                                        static_cast<size_t>(Sec.Size)))
     return createStringError(errc::invalid_argument,
                              "'" + Sec.Name + "': " + toString(std::move(Err)));
 
@@ -544,9 +545,10 @@
                                      DebugCompressionType CompressionType)
     : SectionBase(Sec), CompressionType(CompressionType),
       DecompressedSize(Sec.OriginalData.size()), DecompressedAlign(Sec.Align) {
-  zlib::compress(StringRef(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(OriginalData.data()),
-                           OriginalData.size()),
-                 CompressedData);
+  compression::zlib::compress(
+      StringRef(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(OriginalData.data()),
+                OriginalData.size()),
+      CompressedData);
 
   assert(CompressionType != DebugCompressionType::None);
   Flags |= ELF::SHF_COMPRESSED;
diff --git a/llvm/lib/Object/Decompressor.cpp b/llvm/lib/Object/Decompressor.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/Object/Decompressor.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/Object/Decompressor.cpp
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 Expected<Decompressor> Decompressor::create(StringRef Name, StringRef Data,
                                             bool IsLE, bool Is64Bit) {
-  if (!zlib::isAvailable())
+  if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable())
     return createError("zlib is not available");
 
   Decompressor D(Data);
@@ -94,5 +94,5 @@
 
 Error Decompressor::decompress(MutableArrayRef<char> Buffer) {
   size_t Size = Buffer.size();
-  return zlib::uncompress(SectionData, Buffer.data(), Size);
+  return compression::zlib::uncompress(SectionData, Buffer.data(), Size);
 }
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingReader.cpp b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingReader.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingReader.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingReader.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@
     return Err;
 
   if (CompressedLen > 0) {
-    if (!zlib::isAvailable())
+    if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable())
       return make_error<CoverageMapError>(
           coveragemap_error::decompression_failed);
 
@@ -129,8 +129,8 @@
     // Read compressed filenames.
     StringRef CompressedFilenames = Data.substr(0, CompressedLen);
     Data = Data.substr(CompressedLen);
-    auto Err =
-        zlib::uncompress(CompressedFilenames, StorageBuf, UncompressedLen);
+    auto Err = compression::zlib::uncompress(CompressedFilenames, StorageBuf,
+                                             UncompressedLen);
     if (Err) {
       consumeError(std::move(Err));
       return make_error<CoverageMapError>(
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingWriter.cpp b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingWriter.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingWriter.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/Coverage/CoverageMappingWriter.cpp
@@ -47,10 +47,11 @@
   }
 
   SmallString<128> CompressedStr;
-  bool doCompression =
-      Compress && zlib::isAvailable() && DoInstrProfNameCompression;
+  bool doCompression = Compress && compression::zlib::isAvailable() &&
+                       DoInstrProfNameCompression;
   if (doCompression)
-    zlib::compress(FilenamesStr, CompressedStr, zlib::BestSizeCompression);
+    compression::zlib::compress(FilenamesStr, CompressedStr,
+                                compression::zlib::BestSizeCompression);
 
   // ::= <num-filenames>
   //     <uncompressed-len>
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/InstrProf.cpp b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/InstrProf.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/InstrProf.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/InstrProf.cpp
@@ -467,8 +467,9 @@
   }
 
   SmallString<128> CompressedNameStrings;
-  zlib::compress(StringRef(UncompressedNameStrings), CompressedNameStrings,
-                 zlib::BestSizeCompression);
+  compression::zlib::compress(StringRef(UncompressedNameStrings),
+                              CompressedNameStrings,
+                              compression::zlib::BestSizeCompression);
 
   return WriteStringToResult(CompressedNameStrings.size(),
                              CompressedNameStrings);
@@ -488,7 +489,7 @@
     NameStrs.push_back(std::string(getPGOFuncNameVarInitializer(NameVar)));
   }
   return collectPGOFuncNameStrings(
-      NameStrs, zlib::isAvailable() && doCompression, Result);
+      NameStrs, compression::zlib::isAvailable() && doCompression, Result);
 }
 
 Error readPGOFuncNameStrings(StringRef NameStrings, InstrProfSymtab &Symtab) {
@@ -504,14 +505,14 @@
     SmallString<128> UncompressedNameStrings;
     StringRef NameStrings;
     if (isCompressed) {
-      if (!llvm::zlib::isAvailable())
+      if (!llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable())
         return make_error<InstrProfError>(instrprof_error::zlib_unavailable);
 
       StringRef CompressedNameStrings(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(P),
                                       CompressedSize);
-      if (Error E =
-              zlib::uncompress(CompressedNameStrings, UncompressedNameStrings,
-                               UncompressedSize)) {
+      if (Error E = compression::zlib::uncompress(CompressedNameStrings,
+                                                  UncompressedNameStrings,
+                                                  UncompressedSize)) {
         consumeError(std::move(E));
         return make_error<InstrProfError>(instrprof_error::uncompress_failed);
       }
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfReader.cpp b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfReader.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfReader.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfReader.cpp
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@
   if (std::error_code EC = CompressSize.getError())
     return EC;
 
-  if (!llvm::zlib::isAvailable())
+  if (!llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable())
     return sampleprof_error::zlib_unavailable;
 
   StringRef CompressedStrings(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(Data),
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@
   char *Buffer = Allocator.Allocate<char>(DecompressBufSize);
   size_t UCSize = DecompressBufSize;
   llvm::Error E =
-      zlib::uncompress(CompressedStrings, Buffer, UCSize);
+      compression::zlib::uncompress(CompressedStrings, Buffer, UCSize);
   if (E)
     return sampleprof_error::uncompress_failed;
   DecompressBuf = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t *>(Buffer);
diff --git a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfWriter.cpp b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfWriter.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfWriter.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ProfileData/SampleProfWriter.cpp
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 }
 
 std::error_code SampleProfileWriterExtBinaryBase::compressAndOutput() {
-  if (!llvm::zlib::isAvailable())
+  if (!llvm::compression::zlib::isAvailable())
     return sampleprof_error::zlib_unavailable;
   std::string &UncompressedStrings =
       static_cast<raw_string_ostream *>(LocalBufStream.get())->str();
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@
     return sampleprof_error::success;
   auto &OS = *OutputStream;
   SmallString<128> CompressedStrings;
-  zlib::compress(UncompressedStrings, CompressedStrings,
-                 zlib::BestSizeCompression);
+  compression::zlib::compress(UncompressedStrings, CompressedStrings,
+                              compression::zlib::BestSizeCompression);
   encodeULEB128(UncompressedStrings.size(), OS);
   encodeULEB128(CompressedStrings.size(), OS);
   OS << CompressedStrings.str();
diff --git a/llvm/lib/Support/Compression.cpp b/llvm/lib/Support/Compression.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/Support/Compression.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/Support/Compression.cpp
@@ -23,10 +23,9 @@
 
 using namespace llvm;
 
+using namespace llvm::compression;
+
 #if LLVM_ENABLE_ZLIB
-static Error createError(StringRef Err) {
-  return make_error<StringError>(Err, inconvertibleErrorCode());
-}
 
 static StringRef convertZlibCodeToString(int Code) {
   switch (Code) {
@@ -70,15 +69,17 @@
   // Tell MemorySanitizer that zlib output buffer is fully initialized.
   // This avoids a false report when running LLVM with uninstrumented ZLib.
   __msan_unpoison(UncompressedBuffer, UncompressedSize);
-  return Res ? createError(convertZlibCodeToString(Res)) : Error::success();
+  return Res ? make_error<StringError>(convertZlibCodeToString(Res),
+                                       inconvertibleErrorCode())
+             : Error::success();
 }
 
 Error zlib::uncompress(StringRef InputBuffer,
                        SmallVectorImpl<char> &UncompressedBuffer,
                        size_t UncompressedSize) {
   UncompressedBuffer.resize_for_overwrite(UncompressedSize);
-  Error E =
-      uncompress(InputBuffer, UncompressedBuffer.data(), UncompressedSize);
+  Error E = zlib::uncompress(InputBuffer, UncompressedBuffer.data(),
+                             UncompressedSize);
   UncompressedBuffer.truncate(UncompressedSize);
   return E;
 }
diff --git a/llvm/tools/llvm-mc/llvm-mc.cpp b/llvm/tools/llvm-mc/llvm-mc.cpp
--- a/llvm/tools/llvm-mc/llvm-mc.cpp
+++ b/llvm/tools/llvm-mc/llvm-mc.cpp
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@
   MAI->setRelaxELFRelocations(RelaxELFRel);
 
   if (CompressDebugSections != DebugCompressionType::None) {
-    if (!zlib::isAvailable()) {
+    if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable()) {
       WithColor::error(errs(), ProgName)
           << "build tools with zlib to enable -compress-debug-sections";
       return 1;
diff --git a/llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ObjcopyOptions.cpp b/llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ObjcopyOptions.cpp
--- a/llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ObjcopyOptions.cpp
+++ b/llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ObjcopyOptions.cpp
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@
                 .str()
                 .c_str());
     }
-    if (!zlib::isAvailable())
+    if (!compression::zlib::isAvailable())
       return createStringError(
           errc::invalid_argument,
           "LLVM was not compiled with LLVM_ENABLE_ZLIB: can not compress");
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@
         "--decompress-debug-sections");
   }
 
-  if (Config.DecompressDebugSections && !zlib::isAvailable())
+  if (Config.DecompressDebugSections && !compression::zlib::isAvailable())
     return createStringError(
         errc::invalid_argument,
         "LLVM was not compiled with LLVM_ENABLE_ZLIB: cannot decompress");
diff --git a/llvm/unittests/ProfileData/InstrProfTest.cpp b/llvm/unittests/ProfileData/InstrProfTest.cpp
--- a/llvm/unittests/ProfileData/InstrProfTest.cpp
+++ b/llvm/unittests/ProfileData/InstrProfTest.cpp
@@ -1147,14 +1147,16 @@
     // Compressing:
     std::string FuncNameStrings1;
     EXPECT_THAT_ERROR(collectPGOFuncNameStrings(
-                          FuncNames1, (DoCompression && zlib::isAvailable()),
+                          FuncNames1,
+                          (DoCompression && compression::zlib::isAvailable()),
                           FuncNameStrings1),
                       Succeeded());
 
     // Compressing:
     std::string FuncNameStrings2;
     EXPECT_THAT_ERROR(collectPGOFuncNameStrings(
-                          FuncNames2, (DoCompression && zlib::isAvailable()),
+                          FuncNames2,
+                          (DoCompression && compression::zlib::isAvailable()),
                           FuncNameStrings2),
                       Succeeded());
 
diff --git a/llvm/unittests/Support/CompressionTest.cpp b/llvm/unittests/Support/CompressionTest.cpp
--- a/llvm/unittests/Support/CompressionTest.cpp
+++ b/llvm/unittests/Support/CompressionTest.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
 
 using namespace llvm;
+using namespace llvm::compression;
 
 namespace {