diff --git a/pkg/machine/compression/generic.go b/pkg/machine/compression/generic.go
index 775af78b44..236a18ea33 100644
--- a/pkg/machine/compression/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/machine/compression/generic.go
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func (d *genericDecompressor) sparseOptimizedCopy(w WriteSeekCloser, r io.Reader
 	sparseWriter := NewSparseWriter(w)
 	defer func() {
 		e := sparseWriter.Close()
-		if err != nil {
+		if e != nil && err == nil {
 			err = e
 		}
 	}()