The Salzbach, which is initially called the Kröppenbach and then the Buchbach, is with a length of around 17 kilometres (11 mi) the longest tributary of the Lauter, which here in its upper reaches is known as the Wieslauter.

It flows through the northwestern Wasgau, a hill range which comprises the southern part of the Palatinate Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the northern part of the Vosges in the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle.

Strictly speaking the stream called the Salzbach does not have a spring source because it is formed by the confluence of the 10-kilometre-long (6.2 mi) Kröppenbach/Buchbach, which hydrologically is the source of the Salzbach, and the Storrbach which empties into it from the right between the villages of Langmühle and Salzwoog below the Devil's Table of Salzwoog.

The name of the stream does not refer to its salt (German: Salz) content, but to the old customs station of Salzwoog, where salt traders had to pay a tax on crossing the border between the territories of the Bishopric of Speyer and the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.

The former border post of Salzwoog lay on the bridge above the Salzbach, that now carries the state road, L 487 (Hinterweidenthal–Fischbach) and L 486 (Lemberg–Dahn) over the pond.