diff --git a/lrzip.c b/lrzip.c
index ac3c923..16e7948 100644
--- a/lrzip.c
+++ b/lrzip.c
@@ -782,6 +782,12 @@ static void release_hashes(rzip_control *control)
 
 static void clear_rulist(rzip_control *control)
 {
+	/* If we're unable to safely clean up thread-related memory due to
+	 * a failure in decompression, let the small memory leak be cleaned
+	 * up by process exit */
+	if (unlikely(control->thread_count > 0)) {
+		return;
+	}
 	while (control->ruhead) {
 		struct runzip_node *node = control->ruhead;
 		struct stream_info *sinfo = node->sinfo;
diff --git a/lrzip_private.h b/lrzip_private.h
index 622ffee..d2ce1eb 100644
--- a/lrzip_private.h
+++ b/lrzip_private.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <semaphore.h>
+#include <stdatomic.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PTHREAD_H
 # include <pthread.h>
@@ -467,6 +468,7 @@ struct rzip_control {
 
 	pthread_t *pthreads;
 	struct runzip_node *ruhead;
+	atomic_int thread_count;
 };
 
 struct uncomp_thread {
diff --git a/stream.c b/stream.c
index bc5b207..88602ff 100644
--- a/stream.c
+++ b/stream.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <inttypes.h>
+#include <stdatomic.h>
 
 /* LZMA C Wrapper */
 #include "lzma/C/LzmaLib.h"
@@ -124,8 +125,11 @@ static bool cond_broadcast(rzip_control *control, pthread_cond_t *cond)
 bool create_pthread(rzip_control *control, pthread_t *thread, pthread_attr_t * attr,
 	void * (*start_routine)(void *), void *arg)
 {
-	if (unlikely(pthread_create(thread, attr, start_routine, arg)))
+	atomic_fetch_add(&control->thread_count, 1);
+	if (unlikely(pthread_create(thread, attr, start_routine, arg))) {
+		atomic_fetch_sub(&control->thread_count, 1);
 		fatal_return(("Failed to pthread_create\n"), false);
+	}
 	return true;
 }
 
@@ -140,6 +144,7 @@ bool join_pthread(rzip_control *control, pthread_t th, void **thread_return)
 {
 	if (pthread_join(th, thread_return))
 		fatal_return(("Failed to pthread_join\n"), false);
+	atomic_fetch_sub(&control->thread_count, 1);
 	return true;
 }