diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.http.server/src/org/eclipse/jgit/http/server/SmartOutputStream.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.http.server/src/org/eclipse/jgit/http/server/SmartOutputStream.java
index 00cb67ca9..c39b78900 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.http.server/src/org/eclipse/jgit/http/server/SmartOutputStream.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.http.server/src/org/eclipse/jgit/http/server/SmartOutputStream.java
@@ -101,8 +101,11 @@ class SmartOutputStream extends TemporaryBuffer {
 				TemporaryBuffer gzbuf = new TemporaryBuffer.Heap(LIMIT);
 				try {
 					GZIPOutputStream gzip = new GZIPOutputStream(gzbuf);
-					out.writeTo(gzip, null);
-					gzip.close();
+					try {
+						out.writeTo(gzip, null);
+					} finally {
+						gzip.close();
+					}
 					if (gzbuf.length() < out.length()) {
 						out = gzbuf;
 						rsp.setHeader(HDR_CONTENT_ENCODING, ENCODING_GZIP);