diff --git a/dlls/windowscodecs/tests/pngformat.c b/dlls/windowscodecs/tests/pngformat.c
index d08a5fb6188..8c33d3b9645 100644
--- a/dlls/windowscodecs/tests/pngformat.c
+++ b/dlls/windowscodecs/tests/pngformat.c
@@ -306,6 +306,8 @@ static HRESULT create_decoder(const void *image_data, UINT image_size, IWICBitma
         refcount = IStream_Release(stream);
         ok(refcount > 0, "expected stream refcount > 0\n");
     }
+    else
+        IStream_Release(stream);
 
     return hr;
 }