diff --git a/gio/gfile.c b/gio/gfile.c
index 6e3b524f7..f92c07612 100644
--- a/gio/gfile.c
+++ b/gio/gfile.c
@@ -7580,7 +7580,6 @@ replace_contents_close_callback (GObject      *obj,
 
   /* Ignore errors here, we're only reading anyway */
   g_output_stream_close_finish (stream, close_res, NULL);
-  g_object_unref (stream);
 
   if (!data->failed)
     {
@@ -7662,6 +7661,7 @@ replace_contents_open_callback (GObject      *obj,
                                    g_task_get_cancellable (data->task),
                                    replace_contents_write_callback,
                                    data);
+      g_object_unref (stream);  /* ownership is transferred to the write_async() call above */
     }
   else
     {