Zinc halotellurite glasses were studied with respect to the glass transition, softening temperature, thermal expansion, optical energy gap, Urbach energy, density, molar volume, refractive index, polarizability, molar refraction and third order non-linear optical susceptibility. Thermal characteristic were determined using a dilatometry. The optical absorption in the wavelength range (300-3200 nm) was measured. From the absorption edge studies, the values of optical band gap (E-opt) and Urbach energy (Delta E) have been evaluated. Optical parameters viz., color dispersion, dispersion energy, E-d, average oscillator energy, E-0, and third order non-linear optical susceptibility values are estimated from measuring the refractive index at different wavelength. Results obtained are discussed in terms of the glass structure.