diff --git a/dlls/windowscodecs/pngformat.c b/dlls/windowscodecs/pngformat.c
index 7050c95121b..faffeae6ae5 100644
--- a/dlls/windowscodecs/pngformat.c
+++ b/dlls/windowscodecs/pngformat.c
@@ -620,7 +620,6 @@ static HRESULT WINAPI PngDecoder_Initialize(IWICBitmapDecoder *iface, IStream *p
     if (setjmp(jmpbuf))
     {
         ppng_destroy_read_struct(&This->png_ptr, &This->info_ptr, &This->end_info);
-        HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, row_pointers);
         This->png_ptr = NULL;
         hr = WINCODEC_ERR_UNKNOWNIMAGEFORMAT;
         goto end;
@@ -816,6 +815,9 @@ static HRESULT WINAPI PngDecoder_Initialize(IWICBitmapDecoder *iface, IStream *p
 end:
     LeaveCriticalSection(&This->lock);
 
+    if (row_pointers)
+        HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, row_pointers);
+
     return hr;
 }