diff --git a/src/xz/coder.c b/src/xz/coder.c
index 5e5ed04c..c893f787 100644
--- a/src/xz/coder.c
+++ b/src/xz/coder.c
@@ -698,3 +698,13 @@ coder_run(const char *filename)
 
 	return;
 }
+
+
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+extern void
+coder_free(void)
+{
+	lzma_end(&strm);
+	return;
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/src/xz/coder.h b/src/xz/coder.h
index 7edca039..35000438 100644
--- a/src/xz/coder.h
+++ b/src/xz/coder.h
@@ -65,3 +65,8 @@ extern void coder_set_compression_settings(void);
 
 /// Compress or decompress the given file
 extern void coder_run(const char *filename);
+
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+/// Free the memory allocated for the coder and kill the worker threads.
+extern void coder_free(void);
+#endif
diff --git a/src/xz/main.c b/src/xz/main.c
index 8196c6e7..4e5b49e5 100644
--- a/src/xz/main.c
+++ b/src/xz/main.c
@@ -275,6 +275,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		list_totals();
 	}
 
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+	coder_free();
+#endif
+
 	// If we have got a signal, raise it to kill the program instead
 	// of calling tuklib_exit().
 	signals_exit();