diff --git a/internal/pack/pack.go b/internal/pack/pack.go
index ce341e1f0..fbe0522dc 100644
--- a/internal/pack/pack.go
+++ b/internal/pack/pack.go
@@ -25,12 +25,8 @@ type Packer struct {
 	m sync.Mutex
 }
 
-// NewPacker returns a new Packer that can be used to pack blobs
-// together. If wr is nil, a bytes.Buffer is used.
+// NewPacker returns a new Packer that can be used to pack blobs together.
 func NewPacker(k *crypto.Key, wr io.Writer) *Packer {
-	if wr == nil {
-		wr = bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	}
 	return &Packer{k: k, wr: wr}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/pack/pack_test.go b/internal/pack/pack_test.go
index 12e3600bb..69707ff8a 100644
--- a/internal/pack/pack_test.go
+++ b/internal/pack/pack_test.go
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ func newPack(t testing.TB, k *crypto.Key, lengths []int) ([]Buf, []byte, uint) {
 	}
 
 	// pack blobs
-	p := pack.NewPacker(k, nil)
+	p := pack.NewPacker(k, new(bytes.Buffer))
 	for _, b := range bufs {
 		p.Add(restic.TreeBlob, b.id, b.data)
 	}