diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/QueryPhaseResultConsumer.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/QueryPhaseResultConsumer.java
index f01baa6cb07da..c8da213e7f530 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/QueryPhaseResultConsumer.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/QueryPhaseResultConsumer.java
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ private MergeResult partialReduce(QuerySearchResult[] toConsume,
                 aggsList.add(lastMerge.reducedAggs);
             }
             for (QuerySearchResult result : toConsume) {
-                aggsList.add(result.consumeAggs().expand());
+                aggsList.add(result.consumeAggs());
             }
             newAggs = InternalAggregations.topLevelReduce(aggsList, aggReduceContextBuilder.forPartialReduction());
         } else {
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ public void consume(QuerySearchResult result, Runnable next) {
                         try {
                             addEstimateAndMaybeBreak(aggsSize);
                         } catch (Exception exc) {
+                            result.releaseAggs();
                             onMergeFailure(exc);
                             next.run();
                             return;
@@ -458,7 +459,7 @@ public synchronized List<InternalAggregations> consumeAggs() {
                 aggsList.add(mergeResult.reducedAggs);
             }
             for (QuerySearchResult result : buffer) {
-                aggsList.add(result.consumeAggs().expand());
+                aggsList.add(result.consumeAggs());
             }
             return aggsList;
         }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/DelayableWriteable.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/DelayableWriteable.java
index 628b65daeb117..e39133c83a018 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/DelayableWriteable.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/DelayableWriteable.java
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.ReleasableBytesReference;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@
  * to force their buffering in serialized format by calling
  * {@link #asSerialized(Reader, NamedWriteableRegistry)}.
  */
-public abstract class DelayableWriteable<T extends Writeable> implements Writeable {
+public abstract class DelayableWriteable<T extends Writeable> implements Writeable, Releasable {
     /**
      * Build a {@linkplain DelayableWriteable} that wraps an existing object
      * but is serialized so that deserializing it can be delayed.
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ public static <T extends Writeable> DelayableWriteable<T> referencing(T referenc
      * when {@link #expand()} is called.
      */
     public static <T extends Writeable> DelayableWriteable<T> delayed(Writeable.Reader<T> reader, StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        return new Serialized<>(reader, in.getVersion(), in.namedWriteableRegistry(), in.readBytesReference());
+        return new Serialized<>(reader, in.getVersion(), in.namedWriteableRegistry(), in.readReleasableBytesReference());
     }
 
     private DelayableWriteable() {}
@@ -98,7 +99,8 @@ public Serialized<T> asSerialized(Reader<T> reader, NamedWriteableRegistry regis
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 throw new RuntimeException("unexpected error writing writeable to buffer", e);
             }
-            return new Serialized<>(reader, Version.CURRENT, registry, buffer.bytes());
+            // TODO: this path is currently not used in production code, if it ever is this should start using pooled buffers
+            return new Serialized<>(reader, Version.CURRENT, registry, ReleasableBytesReference.wrap(buffer.bytes()));
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -118,19 +120,25 @@ private BytesStreamOutput writeToBuffer(Version version) throws IOException {
                 return buffer;
             }
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() {
+            //noop
+        }
     }
 
     /**
-     * A {@link Writeable} stored in serialized form.
+     * A {@link Writeable} stored in serialized form backed by a {@link ReleasableBytesReference}. Once an instance is no longer used its
+     * backing memory must be manually released by invoking {@link #close()} on it.
      */
     public static class Serialized<T extends Writeable> extends DelayableWriteable<T> {
         private final Writeable.Reader<T> reader;
         private final Version serializedAtVersion;
         private final NamedWriteableRegistry registry;
-        private final BytesReference serialized;
+        private final ReleasableBytesReference serialized;
 
-        private Serialized(Writeable.Reader<T> reader, Version serializedAtVersion,
-                NamedWriteableRegistry registry, BytesReference serialized) {
+        private Serialized(Writeable.Reader<T> reader, Version serializedAtVersion, NamedWriteableRegistry registry,
+                           ReleasableBytesReference serialized) {
             this.reader = reader;
             this.serializedAtVersion = serializedAtVersion;
             this.registry = registry;
@@ -186,6 +194,11 @@ public long getSerializedSize() {
             // We're already serialized
             return serialized.length();
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() {
+            serialized.close();
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResult.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResult.java
index 8786a0a7c1e8e..912149a0dcef3 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResult.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResult.java
@@ -190,13 +190,23 @@ public boolean hasAggs() {
      * Returns and nulls out the aggregation for this search results. This allows to free up memory once the aggregation is consumed.
      * @throws IllegalStateException if the aggregations have already been consumed.
      */
-    public DelayableWriteable<InternalAggregations> consumeAggs() {
+    public InternalAggregations consumeAggs() {
         if (aggregations == null) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("aggs already consumed");
         }
-        DelayableWriteable<InternalAggregations> aggs = aggregations;
-        aggregations = null;
-        return aggs;
+        try {
+            return aggregations.expand();
+        } finally {
+            aggregations.close();
+            aggregations = null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void releaseAggs() {
+        if (aggregations != null) {
+            aggregations.close();
+            aggregations = null;
+        }
     }
 
     public void aggregations(InternalAggregations aggregations) {
@@ -233,8 +243,9 @@ public void consumeAll() {
         if (hasConsumedTopDocs() == false) {
             consumeTopDocs();
         }
-        if (hasAggs()) {
-            consumeAggs();
+        if (aggregations != null) {
+            aggregations.close();
+            aggregations = null;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResultTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResultTests.java
index 9c569bdf37af3..bf645d137cda9 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResultTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/QuerySearchResultTests.java
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ public void testSerialization() throws Exception {
         assertEquals(querySearchResult.size(), deserialized.size());
         assertEquals(querySearchResult.hasAggs(), deserialized.hasAggs());
         if (deserialized.hasAggs()) {
-            Aggregations aggs = querySearchResult.consumeAggs().expand();
-            Aggregations deserializedAggs = deserialized.consumeAggs().expand();
+            Aggregations aggs = querySearchResult.consumeAggs();
+            Aggregations deserializedAggs = deserialized.consumeAggs();
             assertEquals(aggs.asList(), deserializedAggs.asList());
         }
         assertEquals(querySearchResult.terminatedEarly(), deserialized.terminatedEarly());