diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/dataaccess/ImageThumbConverter.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/dataaccess/ImageThumbConverter.java
index 2b4aed3a9a5..16003f6f32b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/dataaccess/ImageThumbConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/dataaccess/ImageThumbConverter.java
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ private static boolean generatePDFThumbnail(StorageIO<DataFile> storageIO, int s
         // will run the ImageMagick on it, and will save its output in another temp 
         // file, and will save it as an "auxiliary" file via the driver. 
         boolean tempFilesRequired = false;
+        File tempFile = null;
 
         try {
             Path pdfFilePath = storageIO.getFileSystemPath();
@@ -222,7 +223,7 @@ private static boolean generatePDFThumbnail(StorageIO<DataFile> storageIO, int s
                 return false;
             }
 
-            File tempFile;
+
             FileChannel tempFileChannel = null;
             try {
                 tempFile = File.createTempFile("tempFileToRescale", ".tmp");
@@ -254,10 +255,14 @@ private static boolean generatePDFThumbnail(StorageIO<DataFile> storageIO, int s
             try {
                 logger.fine("attempting to save generated pdf thumbnail, as AUX file " + THUMBNAIL_SUFFIX + size);
                 storageIO.savePathAsAux(Paths.get(imageThumbFileName), THUMBNAIL_SUFFIX + size);
+
             } catch (IOException ioex) {
                 logger.warning("failed to save generated pdf thumbnail, as AUX file " + THUMBNAIL_SUFFIX + size + "!");
                 return false;
             }
+            finally {
+                tempFile.delete();
+            }
         }
 
         return true;
@@ -353,12 +358,18 @@ private static boolean generateImageThumbnailFromInputStream(StorageIO<DataFile>
 
             if (tempFileRequired) {
                 storageIO.savePathAsAux(Paths.get(tempFile.getAbsolutePath()), THUMBNAIL_SUFFIX + size);
+
             }
 
         } catch (Exception ioex) {
             logger.warning("Failed to rescale and/or save the image: " + ioex.getMessage());
             return false;
         }
+        finally {
+            if(tempFileRequired) {
+                tempFile.delete();
+            }
+        }
 
         return true;