diff --git a/xmlIO.c b/xmlIO.c
index f20c0fa0..007144c7 100644
--- a/xmlIO.c
+++ b/xmlIO.c
@@ -2735,6 +2735,8 @@ __xmlOutputBufferCreateFilename(const char *URI,
 		    ret->writecallback = xmlGzfileWrite;
 		    ret->closecallback = xmlGzfileClose;
 		}
+		else
+		    xmlGzfileClose(context);
 		return(ret);
 	    }
 	}