diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9d95d62e..3296e28c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 18/10/20 started 8.10.3
 - relax heic is_a rules [hisham]
+- fix vips7 webp load [barryspearce]
 
 6/9/20 started 8.10.2
 - update magicksave/load profile handling [kelilevi]
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
index bb2b6c48..309130a8 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 /* What we track during a read.
  */
 typedef struct {
+	VipsImage *out;
 	VipsSource *source;
 
 	/* The data we load, as a webp object.
@@ -340,14 +341,21 @@ read_free( Read *read )
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+static void
+read_close_cb( VipsImage *image, Read *read )
+{
+	read_free( read );
+}
+
 static Read *
-read_new( VipsSource *source, int page, int n, double scale )
+read_new( VipsImage *out, VipsSource *source, int page, int n, double scale )
 {
 	Read *read;
 
 	if( !(read = VIPS_NEW( NULL, Read )) )
 		return( NULL );
 
+	read->out = out;
 	read->source = source;
 	g_object_ref( source );
 	read->page = page;
@@ -359,15 +367,19 @@ read_new( VipsSource *source, int page, int n, double scale )
 	read->dispose_method = WEBP_MUX_DISPOSE_NONE;
 	read->frame_no = 0;
 
+	/* Everything has to stay open until read has finished, unfortunately,
+	 * since webp relies on us mapping the whole file.
+	 */
+	g_signal_connect( out, "close", 
+		G_CALLBACK( read_close_cb ), read ); 
+
 	WebPInitDecoderConfig( &read->config );
 	read->config.options.use_threads = 1;
 	read->config.output.is_external_memory = 1;
 
 	if( !(read->data.bytes = 
-		vips_source_map( source, &read->data.size )) ) {
-		read_free( read );
+		vips_source_map( source, &read->data.size )) ) 
 		return( NULL );
-	}
 
 	return( read );
 }
@@ -774,16 +786,10 @@ vips__webp_read_header_source( VipsSource *source, VipsImage *out,
 {
 	Read *read;
 
-	if( !(read = read_new( source, page, n, scale )) ) 
+	if( !(read = read_new( out, source, page, n, scale )) || 
+		read_header( read, out ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
-	if( read_header( read, out ) ) {
-		read_free( read );
-		return( -1 );
-	}
-
-	read_free( read );
-
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
@@ -793,16 +799,10 @@ vips__webp_read_source( VipsSource *source, VipsImage *out,
 {
 	Read *read;
 
-	if( !(read = read_new( source, page, n, scale )) ) 
+	if( !(read = read_new( out, source, page, n, scale )) || 
+		read_image( read, out ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
-	if( read_image( read, out ) ) {
-		read_free( read );
-		return( -1 );
-	}
-
-	read_free( read );
-
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/source.c b/libvips/iofuncs/source.c
index cd0eb73c..4989e458 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/source.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/source.c
@@ -260,6 +260,8 @@ vips_source_finalize( GObject *gobject )
 {
 	VipsSource *source = VIPS_SOURCE( gobject );
 
+	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_source_finalize: %p\n", source );
+
 	VIPS_FREEF( g_byte_array_unref, source->header_bytes ); 
 	VIPS_FREEF( g_byte_array_unref, source->sniff ); 
 	if( source->mmap_baseaddr ) {
@@ -555,8 +557,6 @@ vips_source_minimise( VipsSource *source )
 {
 	VipsConnection *connection = VIPS_CONNECTION( source );
 
-	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_source_minimise:\n" );
-
 	SANITY( source );
 
 	(void) vips_source_test_features( source );
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ vips_source_minimise( VipsSource *source )
 		connection->descriptor != -1 &&
 		connection->tracked_descriptor == connection->descriptor &&
 		!source->is_pipe ) {
-		VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "    tracked_close()\n" );
+		VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_source_minimise:\n" );
 		vips_tracked_close( connection->tracked_descriptor );
 		connection->tracked_descriptor = -1;
 		connection->descriptor = -1;
@@ -590,13 +590,13 @@ vips_source_unminimise( VipsSource *source )
 {
 	VipsConnection *connection = VIPS_CONNECTION( source );
 
-	VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_source_unminimise:\n" );
-
 	if( connection->descriptor == -1 &&
 		connection->tracked_descriptor == -1 &&
 		connection->filename ) {
 		int fd;
 
+		VIPS_DEBUG_MSG( "vips_source_unminimise: %p\n", source );
+
 		if( (fd = vips_tracked_open( connection->filename, 
 			MODE_READ, 0 )) == -1 ) {
 			vips_error_system( errno,