diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/json/AbstractJackson2Encoder.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/json/AbstractJackson2Encoder.java
index ffeb685568..16cc53b543 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/json/AbstractJackson2Encoder.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/codec/json/AbstractJackson2Encoder.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import org.springframework.core.codec.EncodingException;
 import org.springframework.core.codec.Hints;
 import org.springframework.core.io.buffer.DataBuffer;
 import org.springframework.core.io.buffer.DataBufferFactory;
+import org.springframework.core.io.buffer.DataBufferUtils;
 import org.springframework.core.log.LogFormatUtils;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.http.codec.HttpMessageEncoder;
@@ -161,11 +162,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractJackson2Encoder extends Jackson2CodecSupport imple
 		writer = customizeWriter(writer, mimeType, elementType, hints);
 
 		DataBuffer buffer = bufferFactory.allocateBuffer();
+		boolean release = true;
 		OutputStream outputStream = buffer.asOutputStream();
 
 		try {
-			JsonGenerator generator = getObjectMapper().getFactory().createGenerator(outputStream, encoding);
+			JsonGenerator generator =
+					getObjectMapper().getFactory().createGenerator(outputStream, encoding);
 			writer.writeValue(generator, value);
+			release = false;
 		}
 		catch (InvalidDefinitionException ex) {
 			throw new CodecException("Type definition error: " + ex.getType(), ex);
@@ -174,7 +178,13 @@ public abstract class AbstractJackson2Encoder extends Jackson2CodecSupport imple
 			throw new EncodingException("JSON encoding error: " + ex.getOriginalMessage(), ex);
 		}
 		catch (IOException ex) {
-			throw new IllegalStateException("Unexpected I/O error while writing to data buffer", ex);
+			throw new IllegalStateException("Unexpected I/O error while writing to data buffer",
+					ex);
+		}
+		finally {
+			if (release) {
+				DataBufferUtils.release(buffer);
+			}
 		}
 
 		return buffer;