encode · cclauss · Aug 31, 2025
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-suite.yml b/.github/workflows/test-suite.yml
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ jobs:
 
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
+        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13", "3.14"]
 
     steps:
-      - uses: "actions/checkout@v4"
-      - uses: "actions/setup-python@v5"
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: "${{ matrix.python-version }}"
           allow-prereleases: true
@@ -30,5 +30,6 @@ jobs:
         run: "scripts/build"
       - name: "Run tests"
         run: "scripts/test"
+        timeout-minutes: 10  # TODO(@cclauss): Remove once Python 3.14 tests are passing.
       - name: "Enforce coverage"
         run: "scripts/coverage"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ As well as these optional installs:
 * `rich` - Rich terminal support. *(Optional, with `httpx[cli]`)*
 * `click` - Command line client support. *(Optional, with `httpx[cli]`)*
 * `brotli` or `brotlicffi` - Decoding for "brotli" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[brotli]`)*
-* `zstandard` - Decoding for "zstd" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[zstd]`)*
+* `backports.zstd` - Decoding for "zstd" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[zstd]`)*
 
 A huge amount of credit is due to `requests` for the API layout that
 much of this work follows, as well as to `urllib3` for plenty of design

diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ As well as these optional installs:
 * `rich` - Rich terminal support. *(Optional, with `httpx[cli]`)*
 * `click` - Command line client support. *(Optional, with `httpx[cli]`)*
 * `brotli` or `brotlicffi` - Decoding for "brotli" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[brotli]`)*
-* `zstandard` - Decoding for "zstd" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[zstd]`)*
+* `backports.zstd` - Decoding for "zstd" compressed responses. *(Optional, with `httpx[zstd]`)*
 
 A huge amount of credit is due to `requests` for the API layout that
 much of this work follows, as well as to `urllib3` for plenty of design

diff --git a/docs/quickstart.md b/docs/quickstart.md
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ b'<!doctype html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<title>Example Domain</title>...'
 
 Any `gzip` and `deflate` HTTP response encodings will automatically
 be decoded for you. If `brotlipy` is installed, then the `brotli` response
-encoding will be supported. If `zstandard` is installed, then `zstd`
+encoding will be supported. If `backports.zstd` is installed on Python < 3.14, then `zstd`
 response encodings will also be supported.
 
 For example, to create an image from binary data returned by a request, you can use the following code:

diff --git a/httpx/_decoders.py b/httpx/_decoders.py
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@
     except ImportError:
         brotli = None
 
-
-# Zstandard support is optional
+# Zstandard support is optional on Python < 3.14
 try:
-    import zstandard
-except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
-    zstandard = None  # type: ignore
+    from compression import zstd
+except ImportError:
+    try:
+        from backports import zstd
+    except ImportError:
+        zstd = None
 
 
 class ContentDecoder:
@@ -162,32 +164,35 @@ class ZStandardDecoder(ContentDecoder):
     """
     Handle 'zstd' RFC 8878 decoding.
 
-    Requires `pip install zstandard`.
+    Requires `pip install backports.zstd` on Python < 3.14.
     Can be installed as a dependency of httpx using `pip install httpx[zstd]`.
     """
 
     # inspired by the ZstdDecoder implementation in urllib3
     def __init__(self) -> None:
-        if zstandard is None:  # pragma: no cover
+        if zstd is None:  # pragma: no cover
             raise ImportError(
                 "Using 'ZStandardDecoder', ..."
                 "Make sure to install httpx using `pip install httpx[zstd]`."
             ) from None
 
-        self.decompressor = zstandard.ZstdDecompressor().decompressobj()
+        self.decompressor = zstd
+        self.decompressor.eof = None
+        self.decompressor.flush = lambda: None
+        self.decompressor.unused_data = None
         self.seen_data = False
 
     def decode(self, data: bytes) -> bytes:
-        assert zstandard is not None
+        assert zstd is not None
         self.seen_data = True
         output = io.BytesIO()
         try:
             output.write(self.decompressor.decompress(data))
             while self.decompressor.eof and self.decompressor.unused_data:
                 unused_data = self.decompressor.unused_data
-                self.decompressor = zstandard.ZstdDecompressor().decompressobj()
+                self.decompressor = zstd
                 output.write(self.decompressor.decompress(unused_data))
-        except zstandard.ZstdError as exc:
+        except zstd.ZstdError as exc:
             raise DecodingError(str(exc)) from exc
         return output.getvalue()
 
@@ -389,5 +394,5 @@ def flush(self) -> list[str]:
 
 if brotli is None:
     SUPPORTED_DECODERS.pop("br")  # pragma: no cover
-if zstandard is None:
+if zstd is None:
     SUPPORTED_DECODERS.pop("zstd")  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ socks = [
     "socksio==1.*",
 ]
 zstd = [
-  "zstandard>=0.18.0",
+  "backports.zstd>=0.5.0; python_version < '3.14'",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]

diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ twine==6.1.0
 coverage[toml]==7.10.6
 cryptography==45.0.7
 mypy==1.17.1
-pytest==8.4.1
+pytest==8.4.2
 ruff==0.12.11
 trio==0.30.0
 trio-typing==0.10.0

diff --git a/tests/test_decoders.py b/tests/test_decoders.py
@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@
 import typing
 import zlib
 
+try:
+    from compression import zstd
+except ImportError:
+    from backports import zstd
+
 import chardet
 import pytest
-import zstandard as zstd
 
 import httpx