diff --git a/src/resourcefiles/resourcefile.cpp b/src/resourcefiles/resourcefile.cpp
index 603606341..c9f2f7446 100644
--- a/src/resourcefiles/resourcefile.cpp
+++ b/src/resourcefiles/resourcefile.cpp
@@ -291,11 +291,13 @@ static CheckFunc funcs[] = { CheckWad, CheckZip, Check7Z, CheckPak, CheckGRP, Ch
 
 FResourceFile *FResourceFile::OpenResourceFile(const char *filename, FileReader *file, bool quiet, bool containeronly)
 {
+	bool mustclose = false;
 	if (file == NULL)
 	{
 		try
 		{
 			file = new FileReader(filename);
+			mustclose = true;
 		}
 		catch (CRecoverableError &)
 		{
@@ -307,6 +309,7 @@ FResourceFile *FResourceFile::OpenResourceFile(const char *filename, FileReader
 		FResourceFile *resfile = funcs[i](filename, file, quiet);
 		if (resfile != NULL) return resfile;
 	}
+	if (mustclose) delete file;
 	return NULL;
 }