diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 747c3b65..e10b543b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 - vipsthumbnail knows about pdfload and svgload
 - added @page param to magickload 
 - matload is more specific (thanks bithive)
-- don't cache progressive jpg images
+- lower mem use for progressive jpg decode
 
 27/1/16 started 8.2.3
 - fix a crash with SPARC byte-order labq vips images
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
index b776f3a3..dab23237 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/jpeg2vips.c
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
  * 	  fd during jpg read, handy for large numbers of input images 
  * 15/7/15
  * 	- save exif tags using @name, not @title ... @title is subject to i18n
+ * 21/2/16
+ * 	- _destroy the decompress object as soon as we can, frees loads of
+ * 	  memory for progressive jpg files
  */
 
 /*
@@ -977,6 +980,12 @@ read_jpeg_generate( VipsRegion *or,
 		jpeg->y_pos += 1; 
 	}
 
+	/* Progressive images can have a lot of memory in the decompress
+	 * object, destroy as soon as we can. Safe to call many times. 
+	 */
+	if( jpeg->y_pos >= or->im->Ysize ) 
+		jpeg_destroy_decompress( &jpeg->cinfo );
+
 	VIPS_GATE_STOP( "read_jpeg_generate: work" );
 
 	return( 0 );
@@ -1083,7 +1092,6 @@ vips__jpeg_read( ReadJpeg *jpeg, VipsImage *out, gboolean header_only )
 }
 #endif /*DEBUG*/
 
-
 	/* Convert!
 	 */
 	if( header_only ) {
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/jpegload.c b/libvips/foreign/jpegload.c
index 58f0aec7..2e81077e 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/jpegload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/jpegload.c
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
  * 	- wrap a class around the jpeg writer
  * 29/11/11
  * 	- split to make load, load from buffer and load from file
- * 18/2/16
- * 	- don't cache progressive jpgs, they take too much mem
  */
 
 /*
@@ -94,25 +92,6 @@ typedef VipsForeignLoadClass VipsForeignLoadJpegClass;
 G_DEFINE_ABSTRACT_TYPE( VipsForeignLoadJpeg, vips_foreign_load_jpeg, 
 	VIPS_TYPE_FOREIGN_LOAD );
 
-static VipsOperationFlags 
-vips_foreign_load_jpeg_operation_get_flags( VipsOperation *operation )
-{
-	VipsForeignLoad *load = VIPS_FOREIGN_LOAD( operation );
-
-	VipsOperationFlags flags;
-	int multiscan;
-
-	flags = VIPS_OPERATION_CLASS( vips_foreign_load_jpeg_parent_class )->
-		get_flags( operation );
-	if( load->out &&
-		!vips_image_get_int( load->out, 
-			"jpeg-multiscan", &multiscan ) &&
-		multiscan ) 
-		flags |= VIPS_OPERATION_NOCACHE;
-
-	return( flags );
-}
-
 static VipsForeignFlags
 vips_foreign_load_jpeg_get_flags( VipsForeignLoad *load )
 {
@@ -147,7 +126,6 @@ vips_foreign_load_jpeg_class_init( VipsForeignLoadJpegClass *class )
 {
 	GObjectClass *gobject_class = G_OBJECT_CLASS( class );
 	VipsObjectClass *object_class = (VipsObjectClass *) class;
-	VipsOperationClass *operation_class = (VipsOperationClass *) class;
 	VipsForeignLoadClass *load_class = (VipsForeignLoadClass *) class;
 
 	gobject_class->set_property = vips_object_set_property;
@@ -157,8 +135,6 @@ vips_foreign_load_jpeg_class_init( VipsForeignLoadJpegClass *class )
 	object_class->description = _( "load jpeg" );
 	object_class->build = vips_foreign_load_jpeg_build;
 
-	operation_class->get_flags = vips_foreign_load_jpeg_operation_get_flags;
-
 	load_class->get_flags = vips_foreign_load_jpeg_get_flags;
 
 	VIPS_ARG_INT( class, "shrink", 10,