diff --git a/reader/JFJochXFELReader.cpp b/reader/JFJochXFELReader.cpp
index 3051edf1a..d59e524b4 100644
--- a/reader/JFJochXFELReader.cpp
+++ b/reader/JFJochXFELReader.cpp
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ std::shared_ptr<const HDF5ImageSource::RawFile> JFJochXFELReader::RawFileAt(size
     if (raw_files_.size() != files_.size()) {
         raw_files_.assign(files_.size(), nullptr);
         user_block_.assign(files_.size(), 0);
+        raw_order_.clear();
     }
     if (!raw_files_[file]) {
         const hid_t fcpl = H5Fget_create_plist(FileAt(file).GetID());
@@ -97,6 +98,11 @@ std::shared_ptr<const HDF5ImageSource::RawFile> JFJochXFELReader::RawFileAt(size
             throw JFJochException(JFJochExceptionCategory::InputParameterInvalid, "Cannot open " + files_[file]);
         raw_files_[file] = raw;
         user_block_[file] = user_block;
+        raw_order_.push_back(file);
+        if (raw_order_.size() > MAX_OPEN_FILES) {
+            raw_files_[raw_order_.front()].reset();
+            raw_order_.erase(raw_order_.begin());
+        }
     }
     return raw_files_[file];
 }
@@ -718,6 +724,7 @@ void JFJochXFELReader::Close() {
     open_files_.clear();
     raw_files_.clear();
     user_block_.clear();
+    raw_order_.clear();
     files_.clear();
     frames_.clear();
     dataset_.reset();
diff --git a/reader/JFJochXFELReader.h b/reader/JFJochXFELReader.h
index ec79bdfae..2f9059b56 100644
--- a/reader/JFJochXFELReader.h
+++ b/reader/JFJochXFELReader.h
@@ -84,9 +84,11 @@ class JFJochXFELReader : public JFJochReader {
     };
     Layout layout_;
     // Positional-read handles on the files, opened as first needed (under hdf5_mutex), with the size of
-    // each file's user block, which HDF5 chunk addresses count from.
+    // each file's user block, which HDF5 chunk addresses count from. Like open_files_, only the most
+    // recently used MAX_OPEN_FILES are held (raw_order_); a reader still using a released one keeps it.
     mutable std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const HDF5ImageSource::RawFile>> raw_files_;
     mutable std::vector<uint64_t> user_block_;
+    mutable std::vector<size_t> raw_order_;
     static Layout ReadLayout(HDF5ReadOnlyFile &file, const Frame &frame);
 
     // The files, in the order given, every frame in them, and the run's mean of every value the geometry