diff --git a/code/__HELPERS/icons.dm b/code/__HELPERS/icons.dm
index e2ae09e89e8..9cfff1dac29 100644
--- a/code/__HELPERS/icons.dm
+++ b/code/__HELPERS/icons.dm
@@ -1099,11 +1099,6 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freon_color_matrix, list("#2E5E69", "#60A2A8", "#A1AFB1", rgb(0
 		alpha += 25
 		obj_flags &= ~FROZEN
 
-
-/// Save file used in icon2base64. Used for converting icons to base64.
-GLOBAL_DATUM_INIT(dummySave, /savefile, new("tmp/dummySave.sav")) //Cache of icons for the browser output
-
-
 /// Generate a filename for this asset
 /// The same asset will always lead to the same asset name
 /// (Generated names do not include file extention.)
@@ -1119,10 +1114,14 @@ GLOBAL_DATUM_INIT(dummySave, /savefile, new("tmp/dummySave.sav")) //Cache of ico
 /proc/icon2base64(icon/icon)
 	if (!isicon(icon))
 		return FALSE
-	WRITE_FILE(GLOB.dummySave["dummy"], icon)
-	var/iconData = GLOB.dummySave.ExportText("dummy")
+	var/savefile/dummySave = new("tmp/dummySave.sav")
+	WRITE_FILE(dummySave["dummy"], icon)
+	var/iconData = dummySave.ExportText("dummy")
 	var/list/partial = splittext(iconData, "{")
-	return replacetext(copytext_char(partial[2], 3, -5), "\n", "")
+	. = replacetext(copytext_char(partial[2], 3, -5), "\n", "") //if cleanup fails we want to still return the correct base64
+	dummySave.Unlock()
+	dummySave = null
+	fdel("tmp/dummySave.sav") //if you get the idea to try and make this more optimized, make sure to still call unlock on the savefile after every write to unlock it.
 
 /proc/icon2html(thing, target, icon_state, dir = SOUTH, frame = 1, moving = FALSE, sourceonly = FALSE)
 	if (!thing)