diff --git a/internal/fs/file.go b/internal/fs/file.go
index 1071f4e87..356b466c3 100644
--- a/internal/fs/file.go
+++ b/internal/fs/file.go
@@ -88,15 +88,6 @@ func OpenFile(name string, flag int, perm os.FileMode) (*os.File, error) {
 	return os.OpenFile(fixpath(name), flag, perm)
 }
 
-// RemoveIfExists removes a file, returning no error if it does not exist.
-func RemoveIfExists(filename string) error {
-	err := os.Remove(filename)
-	if err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		err = nil
-	}
-	return err
-}
-
 // Chtimes changes the access and modification times of the named file,
 // similar to the Unix utime() or utimes() functions.
 //
diff --git a/internal/repository/packer_manager.go b/internal/repository/packer_manager.go
index 8dd8f71c1..731ad9a6a 100644
--- a/internal/repository/packer_manager.go
+++ b/internal/repository/packer_manager.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"io"
 	"os"
-	"runtime"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend"
@@ -186,14 +185,6 @@ func (r *Repository) savePacker(ctx context.Context, t restic.BlobType, p *packe
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "close tempfile")
 	}
 
-	// on windows the tempfile is automatically deleted on close
-	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
-		err = fs.RemoveIfExists(p.tmpfile.Name())
-		if err != nil {
-			return errors.WithStack(err)
-		}
-	}
-
 	// update blobs in the index
 	debug.Log("  updating blobs %v to pack %v", p.Packer.Blobs(), id)
 	r.idx.StorePack(id, p.Packer.Blobs())