In algebraic geometry, local uniformization is a weak form of resolution of singularities, stating that a variety can be desingularized near any valuation, or in other words that the Zariski–Riemann space of the array is in some sense non-singular. Local uniformization was introduced by Zariski ( 1939, 1940), who separated the problem of resolving the singularities of a variety into the problem of local uniformization and the problem of combining the local uniformizations into a global desingularization.

Local uniformization of a variety at a valuation of its function field means finding a projective model of the variety such that the center of the valuation is non-singular. It is weaker than resolution of singularities: if there is a resolution of singularities then this is a model such that the center of every valuation is non-singular. Zariski (1944b) proved that if one can show local uniformization of a variety then one can find a finite number of models such that every valuation has a non-singular center on at least one of these models. To complete a proof of resolution of singularities, it is then sufficient to show that one can combine these finite models into a single model, but this seems rather hard. (Local uniformization at a valuation does not directly imply resolution at the center of the valuation: roughly speaking; it only implies resolution in a sort of "wedge" near this point, and it seems hard to combine the resolutions of different wedges into a resolution at a point.)

Zariski (1940) proved local uniformization of varieties in any dimension over fields of characteristic 0, and used this to prove resolution of singularities for varieties in characteristic 0 of dimension at most 3. Local uniformization in positive characteristic seems to be much harder. Abhyankar ( 1956, 1966) proved local uniformization in all characteristics for surfaces and in characteristics at least 7 for 3-folds, and was able to deduce global resolution of singularities in these cases from this. Cutkosky (2009) simplified Abhyankar's long proof. Cossart and Piltant ( 2008, 2009) extended Abhyankar's proof of local uniformization of 3-folds to the remaining characteristics 2, 3, and 5. Temkin (2013) showed that it is possible to find a local uniformization of any valuation after taking a purely inseparable extension of the function field.

Local uniformization in positive characteristic for varieties of dimension at least 4 is (as of 2019) an open problem.

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