diff --git a/TOOLS/zsh.pl b/TOOLS/zsh.pl
deleted file mode 100755
index 482aa5e125..0000000000
--- a/TOOLS/zsh.pl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,283 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/perl
-
-# Generate ZSH completion
-
-#
-# This file is part of mpv.
-#
-# mpv is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
-# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
-# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
-# version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# mpv is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
-# License along with mpv.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-#
-
-use strict;
-use warnings;
-use warnings FATAL => 'uninitialized';
-
-my $mpv = $ARGV[0] || 'mpv';
-
-my @opts = parse_main_opts('--list-options', '^ (\-\-[^\s\*]*)\*?\s*(.*)');
-
-die "Couldn't find any options" unless (@opts);
-
-my @ao = parse_opts('--ao=help', '^  ([^\s\:]*)\s*(.*)');
-my @vo = parse_opts('--vo=help', '^  ([^\s\:]*)\s*(.*)');
-
-my @af = parse_opts('--af=help', '^  ([^\s\:]*)\s*(.*)');
-my @vf = parse_opts('--vf=help', '^  ([^\s\:]*)\s*(.*)');
-
-my @protos = parse_opts('--list-protocols', '^ ([^\s]*)');
-
-my ($opts_str, $ao_str, $vo_str, $af_str, $vf_str, $protos_str);
-
-$opts_str .= qq{  '$_' \\\n} foreach (@opts);
-chomp $opts_str;
-
-$ao_str .= qq{      '$_' \\\n} foreach (@ao);
-chomp $ao_str;
-
-$vo_str .= qq{      '$_' \\\n} foreach (@vo);
-chomp $vo_str;
-
-$af_str .= qq{      '$_' \\\n} foreach (@af);
-chomp $af_str;
-
-$vf_str .= qq{      '$_' \\\n} foreach (@vf);
-chomp $vf_str;
-
-$protos_str = join(' ', @protos);
-
-my $runtime_completions = <<'EOS';
-  profile|show-profile)
-    local -a profiles
-    local current
-    for current in "${(@f)$($words[1] --profile=help)}"; do
-      current=${current//\*/\\\*}
-      current=${current//\:/\\\:}
-      current=${current//\[/\\\[}
-      current=${current//\]/\\\]}
-      if [[ $current =~ $'\t'([^$'\t']*)$'\t'(.*) ]]; then
-        if [[ -n $match[2] ]]; then
-          current="$match[1][$match[2]]"
-        else
-          current="$match[1]"
-        fi
-        profiles=($profiles $current)
-      fi
-    done
-    if [[ $state == show-profile ]]; then
-      # For --show-profile, only one allowed
-      if (( ${#profiles} > 0 )); then
-        _values 'profile' $profiles && rc=0
-      fi
-    else
-      # For --profile, multiple allowed
-      profiles=($profiles 'help[list profiles]')
-      _values -s , 'profile(s)' $profiles && rc=0
-    fi
-  ;;
-
-  audio-device)
-    local -a audio_devices
-    local current
-    for current in "${(@f)$($words[1] --audio-device=help)}"; do
-      current=${current//\*/\\\*}
-      current=${current//\:/\\\:}
-      current=${current//\[/\\\[}
-      current=${current//\]/\\\]}
-      if [[ $current =~ '  '\'([^\']*)\'' \('(.*)'\)' ]]; then
-        audio_devices=($audio_devices "$match[1][$match[2]]")
-      fi
-    done
-    audio_devices=($audio_devices 'help[list audio devices]')
-    _values 'audio device' $audio_devices && rc=0
-  ;;
-EOS
-chomp $runtime_completions;
-
-my $tmpl = <<"EOS";
-#compdef mpv
-
-# For customization, see:
-#  https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/Zsh-completion-customization
-
-local curcontext="\$curcontext" state state_descr line
-typeset -A opt_args
-
-local -a match mbegin mend
-local MATCH MBEGIN MEND
-
-# By default, don't complete URLs unless no files match
-local -a tag_order
-zstyle -a ":completion:*:*:\$service:*" tag-order tag_order || \
-  zstyle  ":completion:*:*:\$service:*" tag-order '!urls'
-
-local rc=1
-
-_arguments -C -S \\
-$opts_str
-  '*:files:->mfiles' && rc=0
-
-case \$state in
-  ao)
-    _values -s , 'audio outputs' \\
-$ao_str
-    && rc=0
-  ;;
-
-  vo)
-    _values -s , 'video outputs' \\
-$vo_str
-    && rc=0
-  ;;
-
-  af)
-    _values -s , 'audio filters' \\
-$af_str
-    && rc=0
-  ;;
-
-  vf)
-    _values -s , 'video filters' \\
-$vf_str
-    && rc=0
-  ;;
-
-$runtime_completions
-
-  files)
-    compset -P '*,'
-    compset -S ',*'
-    _files -r ',/ \\t\\n\\-' && rc=0
-  ;;
-
-  mfiles)
-    local expl
-    _tags files urls
-    while _tags; do
-      _requested files expl 'media file' _files && rc=0
-      if _requested urls; then
-        while _next_label urls expl URL; do
-          _urls "\$expl[@]" && rc=0
-          compadd -S '' "\$expl[@]" $protos_str && rc=0
-        done
-      fi
-      (( rc )) || return 0
-    done
-  ;;
-esac
-
-return rc
-EOS
-
-print $tmpl;
-
-sub parse_main_opts {
-    my ($cmd, $regex) = @_;
-
-    my @list;
-    my @lines = call_mpv($cmd);
-
-    foreach my $line (@lines) {
-        my ($name, $desc) = ($line =~ /^$regex/) or next;
-
-        next if ($desc eq 'removed' || $desc eq 'alias');
-
-        if ($desc =~ /^Flag/) {
-
-            push @list, $name;
-
-            $name =~ /^--(.*)/;
-            if ($1 !~ /^(\{|\}|v|list-options|really-quiet|no-.*)$/) {
-                push @list, "--no-$1";
-            }
-
-        } elsif ($desc =~ /^Print/) {
-
-            push @list, $name;
-
-        } else {
-
-            # Option takes argument
-
-            my $entry = $name;
-
-            $desc =~ s/\:/\\:/g;
-            $entry .= "=-:$desc:";
-
-            if ($desc =~ /^Choices\\: ([^(]*)/) {
-                my $choices = $1;
-                $choices =~ s/ +$//; # strip trailing space
-                $entry .= "($choices)";
-
-                # If "no" is one of the choices, it can also be
-                # negated like a flag (--no-whatever).
-                if ($choices =~ /\bno\b/) {
-                    $name =~ s/^--/--no-/;
-                    push @list, $name;
-                }
-            } elsif ($line =~ /\[file\]/) {
-                $entry .= '->files';
-            } elsif ($name =~ /^--(ao|vo|af|vf|profile|show-profile|audio-device)$/) {
-                $entry .= "->$1";
-            }
-            push @list, $entry;
-        }
-    }
-
-    # Sort longest first, because zsh won't complete an option listed
-    # after one that's a prefix of it.
-    @list = sort {
-        $a =~ /([^=]*)/; my $ma = $1;
-        $b =~ /([^=]*)/; my $mb = $1;
-
-        length($mb) <=> length($ma)
-    } @list;
-
-    return @list;
-}
-
-sub parse_opts {
-    my ($cmd, $regex) = @_;
-
-    my @list;
-    my @lines = call_mpv($cmd);
-
-    foreach my $line (@lines) {
-        if ($line !~ /^$regex/) {
-            next;
-        }
-
-        my $entry = $1;
-
-        if (defined $2) {
-            my $desc = $2;
-            $desc =~ s/\:/\\:/g;
-            $entry .= "[$desc]";
-        }
-
-        push @list, $entry
-    }
-
-    return @list;
-}
-
-sub call_mpv {
-    my ($cmd) = @_;
-    my $output = `"$mpv" --no-config $cmd`;
-    if ($? == -1) {
-        die "Could not run mpv: $!";
-    } elsif ((my $exit_code = $? >> 8) != 0) {
-        die "mpv returned $exit_code with output:\n$output";
-    }
-    return split /\n/, $output;
-}
diff --git a/etc/_mpv.zsh b/etc/_mpv.zsh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..265c20acbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/_mpv.zsh
@@ -0,0 +1,251 @@
+#compdef mpv
+
+# ZSH completion for mpv
+#
+# For customization, see:
+#  https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/Zsh-completion-customization
+
+#
+# This file is part of mpv.
+#
+# mpv is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# mpv is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with mpv.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+local curcontext="$curcontext" state state_descr line
+typeset -A opt_args
+
+local -a match mbegin mend
+local MATCH MBEGIN MEND
+
+# By default, don't complete URLs unless no files match
+local -a tag_order
+zstyle -a ":completion:*:*:$service:*" tag-order tag_order ||
+  zstyle  ":completion:*:*:$service:*" tag-order '!urls'
+
+# Use PCRE for regular expression matching if possible. This approximately
+# halves the execution time of generate_arguments compared to the default POSIX
+# regex, which translates to a more responsive first tab press. However, we
+# can't rely on PCRE being available, so we keep all our patterns
+# POSIX-compatible.
+setopt re_match_pcre &>/dev/null
+
+typeset -ga _mpv_completion_arguments _mpv_completion_protocols
+
+function generate_arguments {
+
+  _mpv_completion_arguments=()
+
+  local -a option_aliases=()
+
+  local list_options_line
+  for list_options_line in "${(@f)$($words[1] --list-options)}"; do
+
+    [[ $list_options_line =~ '^\s+--(\S+)\s*(.*)' ]] || continue
+
+    local name=$match[1] desc=$match[2]
+
+    if [[ $desc == Flag* ]]; then
+
+      _mpv_completion_arguments+="$name"
+      if [[ $name != (\{|\}|v|list-options) ]]; then
+        # Negated version
+        _mpv_completion_arguments+="no-$name"
+      fi
+
+    elif [[ -z $desc ]]; then
+
+      # Sub-option for list option
+
+      if [[ $name == *-(clr|help) ]]; then
+        # Like a flag
+        _mpv_completion_arguments+="$name"
+      else
+        # Find the parent option and use that with this option's name
+        _mpv_completion_arguments+="${_mpv_completion_arguments[(R)${name%-*}=*]/*=/$name=}"
+      fi
+
+    elif [[ $desc == Print* ]]; then
+
+      _mpv_completion_arguments+="$name"
+
+    elif [[ $desc =~ '^alias for --(\S+)' ]]; then
+
+      # Save this for later; we might not have parsed the target option yet
+      option_aliases+="$name $match[1]"
+
+    else
+
+      # Option takes argument
+
+      local entry="$name=-:${desc//:/\\:}:"
+
+      if [[ $desc =~ '^Choices: ([^(]*)' ]]; then
+
+        local -a choices=(${(s: :)match[1]})
+        entry+="($choices)"
+        # If "no" is one of the choices, it can also be negated like a flag
+        # (--no-whatever is equivalent to --whatever=no).
+        if (( ${+choices[(r)no]} )); then
+          _mpv_completion_arguments+="no-$name"
+        fi
+
+      elif [[ $desc == *'[file]'* ]]; then
+
+        entry+='->files'
+
+      elif [[ $name == (ao|vo|af|vf|profile|audio-device|vulkan-device) ]]; then
+
+        entry+="->parse-help-$name"
+
+      elif [[ $name == show-profile ]]; then
+
+        entry+="->parse-help-profile"
+
+      fi
+
+      _mpv_completion_arguments+="$entry"
+
+    fi
+
+  done
+
+  # Process aliases
+  local to_from real_name arg_spec
+  for to_from in $option_aliases; do
+    # to_from='alias-name real-name'
+    real_name=${to_from##* }
+    for arg_spec in "$real_name" "$real_name=*" "no-$real_name"; do
+      arg_spec=${_mpv_completion_arguments[(r)$arg_spec]}
+      [[ -n $arg_spec ]] &&
+        _mpv_completion_arguments+="${arg_spec/$real_name/${to_from%% *}}"
+    done
+  done
+
+  # Older versions of zsh have a bug where they won't complete an option listed
+  # after one that's a prefix of it. To work around this, we can sort the
+  # options by length, longest first, so that any prefix of an option will be
+  # listed after it. On newer versions of zsh where the bug is fixed, we skip
+  # this to avoid slowing down the first tab press any more than we have to.
+  autoload -Uz is-at-least
+  if ! is-at-least 5.2; then
+    # If this were a real language, we wouldn't have to sort by prepending the
+    # length, sorting the whole thing numerically, and then removing it again.
+    local -a sort_tmp=()
+    for arg_spec in $_mpv_completion_arguments; do
+      sort_tmp+=${#arg_spec%%=*}_$arg_spec
+    done
+    _mpv_completion_arguments=(${${(On)sort_tmp}/#*_})
+  fi
+
+}
+
+function generate_protocols {
+  _mpv_completion_protocols=()
+  local list_protos_line
+  for list_protos_line in "${(@f)$($words[1] --list-protocols)}"; do
+    if [[ $list_protos_line =~ '^\s+(.*)' ]]; then
+      _mpv_completion_protocols+="$match[1]"
+    fi
+  done
+}
+
+function generate_if_changed {
+  # Called with $1 = 'arguments' or 'protocols'. Generates the respective list
+  # on the first run and re-generates it if the executable being completed for
+  # is different than the one we used to generate the cached list.
+  typeset -gA _mpv_completion_binary
+  local current_binary=${words[1]:c}
+  zmodload -F zsh/stat b:zstat
+  current_binary+=T$(zstat +mtime $current_binary)
+  if [[ $_mpv_completion_binary[$1] != $current_binary ]]; then
+    generate_$1
+    _mpv_completion_binary[$1]=$current_binary
+  fi
+}
+
+# Only consider generating arguments if the argument being completed looks like
+# an option. This way, the user should never see a delay when just completing a
+# filename.
+if [[ $words[$CURRENT] == -* ]]; then
+  generate_if_changed arguments
+fi
+
+local rc=1
+
+_arguments -C -S \*--$_mpv_completion_arguments '*:files:->mfiles' && rc=0
+
+case $state in
+
+  parse-help-*)
+    local option_name=${state#parse-help-}
+    # Can't do non-capturing groups without pcre, so we index the ones we want
+    local pattern name_group=1 desc_group=2
+    case $option_name in
+      audio-device|vulkan-device)
+        pattern='^\s+'\''([^'\'']*)'\''\s+\((.*)\)'
+      ;;
+      profile)
+        # The generic pattern would actually work in most cases for --profile,
+        # but would break if a profile name contained spaces. This stricter one
+        # only breaks if a profile name contains tabs.
+        pattern=$'^\t([^\t]*)\t(.*)'
+      ;;
+      *)
+        pattern='^\s+(--'${option_name}'=)?(\S+)\s*[-:]?\s*(.*)'
+        name_group=2 desc_group=3
+      ;;
+    esac
+    local -a values
+    local current
+    for current in "${(@f)$($words[1] --${option_name}=help)}"; do
+      [[ $current =~ $pattern ]] || continue;
+      local name=${match[name_group]//:/\\:} desc=${match[desc_group]}
+      if [[ -n $desc ]]; then
+        values+="${name}:${desc}"
+      else
+        values+="${name}"
+      fi
+    done
+    (( $#values )) && {
+      compset -P '*,'
+      compset -S ',*'
+      _describe "$state_descr" values -r ',=: \t\n\-' && rc=0
+    }
+  ;;
+
+  files)
+    compset -P '*,'
+    compset -S ',*'
+    _files -r ',/ \t\n\-' && rc=0
+  ;;
+
+  mfiles)
+    local expl
+    _tags files urls
+    while _tags; do
+      _requested files expl 'media file' _files && rc=0
+      if _requested urls; then
+        while _next_label urls expl URL; do
+          _urls "$expl[@]" && rc=0
+          generate_if_changed protocols
+          compadd -S '' "$expl[@]" $_mpv_completion_protocols && rc=0
+        done
+      fi
+      (( rc )) || return 0
+    done
+  ;;
+
+esac
+
+return rc
diff --git a/waftools/generators/sources.py b/waftools/generators/sources.py
index bbca38c06d..0f5b993758 100644
--- a/waftools/generators/sources.py
+++ b/waftools/generators/sources.py
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@ from TOOLS.matroska import generate_C_header, generate_C_definitions
 from TOOLS.file2string import file2string
 import os
 
-def __zshcomp_cmd__(ctx, argument):
-    return '"${{BIN_PERL}}" "{0}/TOOLS/zsh.pl" "{1}" > "${{TGT}}"' \
-                .format(ctx.srcnode.abspath(), argument)
-
 def __wayland_scanner_cmd__(ctx, mode, dir, src, vendored_file):
     return "${{WAYSCAN}} {0} < {1} > ${{TGT}}".format(
         mode,
@@ -49,14 +45,6 @@ def ebml_header(self):
 def ebml_definitions(self):
     execf(self, generate_C_definitions)
 
-def __zshcomp__(ctx, **kwargs):
-    ctx(
-        rule   = __zshcomp_cmd__(ctx, ctx.bldnode.abspath() + '/mpv'),
-        after = ("c", "cprogram",),
-        name   = os.path.basename(kwargs['target']),
-        **kwargs
-    )
-
 def __wayland_protocol_code__(ctx, **kwargs):
     protocol_is_vendored = kwargs.get("vendored_protocol", False)
     file_name = kwargs['protocol'] + '.xml'
@@ -105,4 +93,3 @@ def handle_add_object(tgen):
 BuildContext.file2string             = __file2string__
 BuildContext.wayland_protocol_code   = __wayland_protocol_code__
 BuildContext.wayland_protocol_header = __wayland_protocol_header__
-BuildContext.zshcomp                 = __zshcomp__
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index 93144f9edd..752b400dc3 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -103,12 +103,6 @@ build_options = [
         'desc': 'C plugins',
         'deps': 'libdl && !os-win32',
         'func': check_cc(linkflags=['-rdynamic']),
-    }, {
-        'name': '--zsh-comp',
-        'desc': 'zsh completion',
-        'func': check_ctx_vars('BIN_PERL'),
-        'func': check_true,
-        'default': 'disable',
     }, {
         # does nothing - left for backward and forward compatibility
         'name': '--asm',
diff --git a/wscript_build.py b/wscript_build.py
index 50f8e641ea..301e8819e4 100644
--- a/wscript_build.py
+++ b/wscript_build.py
@@ -717,11 +717,8 @@ def build(ctx):
 
     if ctx.dependency_satisfied('cplayer'):
 
-        if ctx.dependency_satisfied('zsh-comp'):
-            ctx.zshcomp(target = "etc/_mpv", source = "TOOLS/zsh.pl")
-            ctx.install_files(
-                ctx.env.ZSHDIR,
-                ['etc/_mpv'])
+        if ctx.env.ZSHDIR:
+            ctx.install_as(ctx.env.ZSHDIR + '/_mpv', 'etc/_mpv.zsh')
 
         ctx.install_files(
             ctx.env.DATADIR + '/applications',