diff --git a/migration/qemu-file-channel.c b/migration/qemu-file-channel.c
index 0350d367ec..8ff58e81f9 100644
--- a/migration/qemu-file-channel.c
+++ b/migration/qemu-file-channel.c
@@ -102,16 +102,6 @@ static ssize_t channel_get_buffer(void *opaque,
 }
 
 
-static int channel_close(void *opaque, Error **errp)
-{
-    int ret;
-    QIOChannel *ioc = QIO_CHANNEL(opaque);
-    ret = qio_channel_close(ioc, errp);
-    object_unref(OBJECT(ioc));
-    return ret;
-}
-
-
 static QEMUFile *channel_get_input_return_path(void *opaque)
 {
     QIOChannel *ioc = QIO_CHANNEL(opaque);
@@ -128,14 +118,12 @@ static QEMUFile *channel_get_output_return_path(void *opaque)
 
 static const QEMUFileOps channel_input_ops = {
     .get_buffer = channel_get_buffer,
-    .close = channel_close,
     .get_return_path = channel_get_input_return_path,
 };
 
 
 static const QEMUFileOps channel_output_ops = {
     .writev_buffer = channel_writev_buffer,
-    .close = channel_close,
     .get_return_path = channel_get_output_return_path,
 };
 
diff --git a/migration/qemu-file.c b/migration/qemu-file.c
index 95d5db9dd6..74f919de67 100644
--- a/migration/qemu-file.c
+++ b/migration/qemu-file.c
@@ -408,16 +408,16 @@ void qemu_file_credit_transfer(QEMUFile *f, size_t size)
  */
 int qemu_fclose(QEMUFile *f)
 {
-    int ret;
+    int ret, ret2;
     qemu_fflush(f);
     ret = qemu_file_get_error(f);
 
-    if (f->ops->close) {
-        int ret2 = f->ops->close(f->ioc, NULL);
-        if (ret >= 0) {
-            ret = ret2;
-        }
+    ret2 = qio_channel_close(f->ioc, NULL);
+    if (ret >= 0) {
+        ret = ret2;
     }
+    g_clear_pointer(&f->ioc, object_unref);
+
     /* If any error was spotted before closing, we should report it
      * instead of the close() return value.
      */
diff --git a/migration/qemu-file.h b/migration/qemu-file.h
index 7793e765f2..4a3beedb5b 100644
--- a/migration/qemu-file.h
+++ b/migration/qemu-file.h
@@ -37,15 +37,6 @@ typedef ssize_t (QEMUFileGetBufferFunc)(void *opaque, uint8_t *buf,
                                         int64_t pos, size_t size,
                                         Error **errp);
 
-/* Close a file
- *
- * Return negative error number on error, 0 or positive value on success.
- *
- * The meaning of return value on success depends on the specific back-end being
- * used.
- */
-typedef int (QEMUFileCloseFunc)(void *opaque, Error **errp);
-
 /*
  * This function writes an iovec to file. The handler must write all
  * of the data or return a negative errno value.
@@ -87,7 +78,6 @@ typedef QEMUFile *(QEMURetPathFunc)(void *opaque);
 
 typedef struct QEMUFileOps {
     QEMUFileGetBufferFunc *get_buffer;
-    QEMUFileCloseFunc *close;
     QEMUFileWritevBufferFunc *writev_buffer;
     QEMURetPathFunc *get_return_path;
 } QEMUFileOps;