diff --git a/src/log-pcap.c b/src/log-pcap.c
index 3238f2a076..10f3eee310 100644
--- a/src/log-pcap.c
+++ b/src/log-pcap.c
@@ -429,17 +429,21 @@ static int PcapLogOpenHandles(PcapLogData *pl, const Packet *p)
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBLZ4
         else if (pl->compression.format == PCAP_LOG_COMPRESSION_FORMAT_LZ4) {
             PcapLogCompressionData *comp = &pl->compression;
-            if ((pl->pcap_dumper = pcap_dump_fopen(pl->pcap_dead_handle,
-                    comp->pcap_buf_wrapper)) == NULL) {
-                SCLogError("Error opening dump file %s", pcap_geterr(pl->pcap_dead_handle));
-                return TM_ECODE_FAILED;
-            }
+
             comp->file = fopen(pl->filename, "w");
             if (comp->file == NULL) {
                 SCLogError("Error opening file for compressed output: %s", strerror(errno));
                 return TM_ECODE_FAILED;
             }
 
+            if ((pl->pcap_dumper = pcap_dump_fopen(pl->pcap_dead_handle, comp->pcap_buf_wrapper)) ==
+                    NULL) {
+                SCLogError("Error opening dump file %s", pcap_geterr(pl->pcap_dead_handle));
+                fclose(comp->file);
+                comp->file = NULL;
+                return TM_ECODE_FAILED;
+            }
+
             uint64_t bytes_written = LZ4F_compressBegin(comp->lz4f_context,
                     comp->buffer, comp->buffer_size, NULL);
             if (LZ4F_isError(bytes_written)) {