diff --git a/ChangeLog.txt b/ChangeLog.txt
index 6663d0af..7d3143e9 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.txt
+++ b/ChangeLog.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ instead of -1 if width was < 1.
 [5] The Huffman encoder now uses clz and bsr instructions for bit counting on
 ARM64 platforms (see 1.4 beta1 [5].)
 
+[6] The close() method in the TJCompressor and TJDecompressor Java classes is
+now idempotent.  Previously, that method would call the native tjDestroy()
+function even if the TurboJPEG instance had already been destroyed.  This
+caused an exception to be thrown during finalization, if the close() method had
+already been called.  The exception was caught, but it was still an expensive
+operation.
+
 
 1.3.90 (1.4 beta1)
 ==================
diff --git a/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJCompressor.java b/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJCompressor.java
index c4a8cc58..a780d15a 100644
--- a/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJCompressor.java
+++ b/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJCompressor.java
@@ -567,7 +567,8 @@ public class TJCompressor {
    * Free the native structures associated with this compressor instance.
    */
   public void close() throws Exception {
-    destroy();
+    if (handle != 0)
+      destroy();
   }
 
   protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
diff --git a/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJDecompressor.java b/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJDecompressor.java
index 1a2774c0..876ff8f0 100644
--- a/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJDecompressor.java
+++ b/java/org/libjpegturbo/turbojpeg/TJDecompressor.java
@@ -834,7 +834,8 @@ public class TJDecompressor {
    * Free the native structures associated with this decompressor instance.
    */
   public void close() throws Exception {
-    destroy();
+    if (handle != 0)
+      destroy();
   }
 
   protected void finalize() throws Throwable {