diff --git a/builtin-pack-objects.c b/builtin-pack-objects.c
index a39cb82c9b..ec10238e4a 100644
--- a/builtin-pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin-pack-objects.c
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ static unsigned long write_object(struct sha1file *f,
 			/* nothing */;
 		deflateEnd(&stream);
 		datalen = stream.total_out;
-		deflateEnd(&stream);
+
 		/*
 		 * The object header is a byte of 'type' followed by zero or
 		 * more bytes of length.