diff --git a/pixi.toml b/pixi.toml
index 6990777b42d..4e1195f31c3 100644
--- a/pixi.toml
+++ b/pixi.toml
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ pyarrow = { version = "*", index = "https://pypi.anaconda.org/scientific-python-
 
 dask = { git = "https://github.com/dask/dask" }
 distributed = { git = "https://github.com/dask/distributed" }
-zarr = { git = "https://github.com/zarr-developers/zarr-python" }
+zarr = { git = "https://github.com/jhamman/zarr-python", branch = "feature/rectilinear-chunk-grid" }
 numcodecs = { git = "https://github.com/zarr-developers/numcodecs" }
 cftime = { git = "https://github.com/Unidata/cftime" }
 # packaging = { git = "https://github.com/pypa/packaging"} #? Pixi warns if this is enabled
diff --git a/xarray/backends/zarr.py b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
index 410a6a49a7b..a5c43a689ee 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/zarr.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@
     from xarray.core.datatree import DataTree
     from xarray.core.types import ZarrArray, ZarrGroup
 
+try:
+    from zarr import RectilinearChunks, RegularChunks  # noqa: F401
+
+    has_variable_chunk_support = True
+except ImportError:
+    has_variable_chunk_support = False
+
 
 def _get_mappers(*, storage_options, store, chunk_store):
     # expand str and path-like arguments
@@ -280,7 +287,7 @@ async def async_getitem(self, key):
         )
 
 
-def _determine_zarr_chunks(enc_chunks, var_chunks, ndim, name):
+def _determine_zarr_chunks(enc_chunks, var_chunks, ndim, name, zarr_format):
     """
     Given encoding chunks (possibly None or []) and variable chunks
     (possibly None or []).
@@ -302,18 +309,24 @@ def _determine_zarr_chunks(enc_chunks, var_chunks, ndim, name):
     # while dask chunks can be variable sized
     # https://dask.pydata.org/en/latest/array-design.html#chunks
     if var_chunks and not enc_chunks:
+        if zarr_format == 3 and has_variable_chunk_support:
+            return tuple(var_chunks)
+
         if any(len(set(chunks[:-1])) > 1 for chunks in var_chunks):
             raise ValueError(
-                "Zarr requires uniform chunk sizes except for final chunk. "
+                "Zarr v2 requires uniform chunk sizes except for final chunk. "
                 f"Variable named {name!r} has incompatible dask chunks: {var_chunks!r}. "
-                "Consider rechunking using `chunk()`."
+                "Consider rechunking using `chunk()`, or switching to the "
+                "zarr v3 format with zarr-python>=3.2."
             )
         if any((chunks[0] < chunks[-1]) for chunks in var_chunks):
             raise ValueError(
-                "Final chunk of Zarr array must be the same size or smaller "
-                f"than the first. Variable named {name!r} has incompatible Dask chunks {var_chunks!r}."
-                "Consider either rechunking using `chunk()` or instead deleting "
-                "or modifying `encoding['chunks']`."
+                "Final chunk of a Zarr v2 array or a Zarr v3 array without the "
+                "rectilinear chunks extension must be the same size or smaller "
+                f"than the first. Variable named {name!r} has incompatible Dask "
+                f"chunks {var_chunks!r}. "
+                "Consider switching to Zarr v3 with the rectilinear chunks extension, "
+                "rechunking using `chunk()` or deleting or modifying `encoding['chunks']`."
             )
         # return the first chunk for each dimension
         return tuple(chunk[0] for chunk in var_chunks)
@@ -476,6 +489,7 @@ def extract_zarr_variable_encoding(
         var_chunks=variable.chunks,
         ndim=variable.ndim,
         name=name,
+        zarr_format=zarr_format,
     )
     if _zarr_v3() and chunks is None:
         chunks = "auto"
@@ -854,9 +868,12 @@ def open_store_variable(self, name):
         )
         attributes = dict(attributes)
 
+        chunks = tuple(zarr_array.chunks)
+        preferred_chunks = dict(zip(dimensions, chunks, strict=True))
+
         encoding = {
-            "chunks": zarr_array.chunks,
-            "preferred_chunks": dict(zip(dimensions, zarr_array.chunks, strict=True)),
+            "chunks": chunks,
+            "preferred_chunks": preferred_chunks,
         }
 
         if _zarr_v3():