diff --git a/Lib/urllib.py b/Lib/urllib.py
index c000f1129ea..7b2f1f74258 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib.py
@@ -326,11 +326,12 @@ class URLopener:
         if data is not None:
             h.send(data)
         errcode, errmsg, headers = h.getreply()
+        fp = h.getfile()
         if errcode == -1:
+            if fp: fp.close()
             # something went wrong with the HTTP status line
             raise IOError, ('http protocol error', 0,
                             'got a bad status line', None)
-        fp = h.getfile()
         if errcode == 200:
             return addinfourl(fp, headers, "http:" + url)
         else:
@@ -417,11 +418,12 @@ class URLopener:
             if data is not None:
                 h.send(data)
             errcode, errmsg, headers = h.getreply()
+            fp = h.getfile()
             if errcode == -1:
+                if fp: fp.close()
                 # something went wrong with the HTTP status line
                 raise IOError, ('http protocol error', 0,
                                 'got a bad status line', None)
-            fp = h.getfile()
             if errcode == 200:
                 return addinfourl(fp, headers, "https:" + url)
             else: