diff --git a/esphome/components/api/wizard.py b/esphome/components/api/wizard.py
index 314b907e4d..befed39972 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/wizard.py
+++ b/esphome/components/api/wizard.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ Home Assistant shows the wizard when the device is added. See api_wizard.h for t
 from collections.abc import Callable
 import importlib
 import json
-from types import ModuleType
 from typing import Any
 
 from esphome import automation
@@ -27,7 +26,12 @@ from esphome.const import (
 )
 from esphome.core import CORE, ID
 import esphome.final_validate as fv
-from esphome.helpers import fnv1_hash, fnv1_hash_object_id, fnv1a_32bit_hash
+from esphome.helpers import (
+    fnv1_hash,
+    fnv1_hash_object_id,
+    fnv1a_32bit_hash,
+    zstd_module,
+)
 from esphome.types import ConfigType
 
 API_DOMAIN = "api"
@@ -351,14 +355,6 @@ automation.register_apply_condition(
 )
 
 
-def zstd_module() -> ModuleType:
-    """The zstd module: the standard library one from Python 3.14, otherwise the backport."""
-    try:
-        return importlib.import_module("compression.zstd")
-    except ImportError:
-        return importlib.import_module("backports.zstd")
-
-
 def _entity_document(conf: ConfigType, config: fv.FinalValidateConfig) -> ConfigType:
     """An entity of the device that the page shows, keyed as ListEntitiesResponse keys it."""
     _, declaration = _wizard_input_declaration(config, conf[CONF_ID])
diff --git a/esphome/helpers.py b/esphome/helpers.py
index 5ec46be67e..1f9b140797 100644
--- a/esphome/helpers.py
+++ b/esphome/helpers.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, MutableMapping
 from contextlib import suppress
+import importlib
 import ipaddress
 import logging
 import os
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ import platform
 import re
 import stat
 import sys
+from types import ModuleType
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, TextIO
 
 from esphome.const import __version__ as ESPHOME_VERSION
@@ -827,3 +829,11 @@ def docs_url(path: str) -> str:
 
     path = path.removeprefix("/")
     return docs_format.format(path=path)
+
+
+def zstd_module() -> ModuleType:
+    """The zstd module: the standard library one from Python 3.14, otherwise the backport."""
+    try:
+        return importlib.import_module("compression.zstd")
+    except ImportError:
+        return importlib.import_module("backports.zstd")
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 6e1dfa1ba5..8deafbad86 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ puremagic==2.2.0
 ruamel.yaml==0.19.1 # dashboard_import
 ruamel.yaml.clib==0.2.15 # dashboard_import
 esphome-glyphsets==0.2.0
-backports.zstd==1.7.0; python_version < "3.14"  # api wizard; compression.zstd is in the standard library from 3.14
+backports.zstd==1.7.0; python_version < "3.14"  # esphome.helpers.zstd_module; compression.zstd is in the standard library from 3.14
 pillow==12.3.0
 resvg-py==0.5.0
 freetype-py==2.5.1
diff --git a/tests/component_tests/api/test_wizard.py b/tests/component_tests/api/test_wizard.py
index 276f42d624..112092482b 100644
--- a/tests/component_tests/api/test_wizard.py
+++ b/tests/component_tests/api/test_wizard.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from esphome.components.api import wizard
 from esphome.components.homeassistant.switch import SUPPORTED_DOMAINS as SWITCH_DOMAINS
 from esphome.config import load_config
 from esphome.core import CORE
-from esphome.helpers import fnv1_hash, fnv1a_32bit_hash
+from esphome.helpers import fnv1_hash, fnv1a_32bit_hash, zstd_module
 from tests.component_tests.helpers import get_define_value
 
 ESP32_HEADER = """
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ def test_text_select_and_button_default_to_their_domains(
     tmp_path: Path, generate_main: Callable[[str | Path], str]
 ) -> None:
     main_cpp = generate_main(write_input_config(tmp_path, ESP32_HEADER))
-    document = json.loads(wizard.zstd_module().decompress(blob_in(main_cpp)))
+    document = json.loads(zstd_module().decompress(blob_in(main_cpp)))
     filters = {
         entry["key"]: entry.get("entity_filters")
         for page in document["pages"]
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ def test_the_blob_is_the_exact_json_document(
     )
     blob = blob_in(main_cpp)
 
-    text = wizard.zstd_module().decompress(blob).decode("utf-8")
+    text = zstd_module().decompress(blob).decode("utf-8")
     expected = {
         "version": 1,
         "pages": [
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ def test_the_blob_is_deterministic_and_the_same_on_every_platform(
     )
     # Compressing the same document again gives the same bytes
     document = wizard.wizard_document(CORE.config["api"]["wizard"], CORE.config)
-    again = wizard.zstd_module().compress(
+    again = zstd_module().compress(
         json.dumps(
             document, separators=(",", ":"), sort_keys=True, ensure_ascii=False
         ).encode("utf-8"),
@@ -859,21 +859,6 @@ def test_an_entity_without_a_name_cannot_be_in_the_wizard(tmp_path: Path) -> Non
     assert any("has no name of its own" in error for error in errors), errors
 
 
-def test_zstd_falls_back_to_the_backport(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
-    """Before Python 3.14 the standard library has no zstd, so the backport is used."""
-    backport = object()
-
-    def import_module(name: str) -> object:
-        if name == "compression.zstd":
-            raise ImportError(name)
-        assert name == "backports.zstd"
-        return backport
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(wizard.importlib, "import_module", import_module)
-
-    assert wizard.zstd_module() is backport
-
-
 def test_a_wizard_too_big_for_one_message_is_rejected(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     # Random text does not compress, so this needs more than the limit even compressed
     rng = random.Random(1)
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_helpers.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_helpers.py
index 8dae1e87b2..764f160cbc 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -1285,3 +1285,20 @@ def test_get_usable_cpu_count_sources() -> None:
     mock_os_unknown = types.SimpleNamespace(cpu_count=lambda: None)
     with patch("esphome.helpers.os", mock_os_unknown):
         assert helpers.get_usable_cpu_count() == 1
+
+
+def test_zstd_module_falls_back_to_the_backport(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    """Before Python 3.14 the standard library has no zstd, so the backport is used."""
+    backport = object()
+
+    def import_module(name: str) -> object:
+        if name == "compression.zstd":
+            raise ImportError(name)
+        assert name == "backports.zstd"
+        return backport
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(helpers.importlib, "import_module", import_module)
+
+    assert helpers.zstd_module() is backport