diff --git a/actuator/src/main/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtils.java b/actuator/src/main/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtils.java
index 2f469e0579a..4a8412c5f54 100644
--- a/actuator/src/main/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtils.java
+++ b/actuator/src/main/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtils.java
@@ -111,13 +111,19 @@ private static void write(InputStream in, OutputStream out, int bufSize) throws
 
   public static byte[] compress(byte[] bytes) throws IOException {
     ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    Deflater deflater = new Deflater();
 
-    ByteArrayInputStream in = new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
-    DeflaterOutputStream out = new DeflaterOutputStream(baos, new Deflater(), BUF_SIZE);
+    try {
+      ByteArrayInputStream in = new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
+      DeflaterOutputStream out = new DeflaterOutputStream(baos, deflater, BUF_SIZE);
 
-    write(in, out, BUF_SIZE);
+      write(in, out, BUF_SIZE);
 
-    return baos.toByteArray();
+      return baos.toByteArray();
+    } finally {
+      // DeflaterOutputStream only ends Deflaters it creates itself.
+      deflater.end();
+    }
   }
 
   public static byte[] compress(String content) throws IOException {
diff --git a/actuator/src/test/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtilsTest.java b/actuator/src/test/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtilsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d6b1192379c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actuator/src/test/java/org/tron/core/vm/VMUtilsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package org.tron.core.vm;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mockConstruction;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.zip.Deflater;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.MockedConstruction;
+import org.tron.common.utils.ByteUtil;
+
+public class VMUtilsTest {
+
+  @Test
+  public void compressShouldReleaseDeflater() throws Exception {
+    try (MockedConstruction<Deflater> deflaters = mockConstruction(Deflater.class,
+        (deflater, context) -> when(deflater.finished()).thenReturn(true))) {
+      VMUtils.compress(new byte[0]);
+
+      assertEquals(1, deflaters.constructed().size());
+      verify(deflaters.constructed().get(0)).end();
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void compressShouldPreserveContent() throws Exception {
+    byte[] content = "VM trace compression".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+
+    assertArrayEquals(content, ByteUtil.decompress(VMUtils.compress(content)));
+  }
+}