diff --git a/source/blender/editors/space_file/filelist.cc b/source/blender/editors/space_file/filelist.cc
index c6572b1301a..14000045641 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/space_file/filelist.cc
+++ b/source/blender/editors/space_file/filelist.cc
@@ -1500,7 +1500,9 @@ static int filelist_intern_free_main_files(FileList *filelist)
     removed_counter++;
   }
 
-  MEM_SAFE_FREE(filelist_intern->filtered);
+  if (removed_counter > 0) {
+    MEM_SAFE_FREE(filelist_intern->filtered);
+  }
   return removed_counter;
 }
 
@@ -1916,6 +1918,11 @@ static void filelist_clear_main_files(FileList *filelist,
   if (filelist->filelist.entries_num == FILEDIR_NBR_ENTRIES_UNSET) {
     return;
   }
+  const int removed_files = filelist_intern_free_main_files(filelist);
+  /* File list contains no main files to clear. */
+  if (removed_files == 0) {
+    return;
+  }
 
   filelist_tag_needs_filtering(filelist);
 
@@ -1923,8 +1930,6 @@ static void filelist_clear_main_files(FileList *filelist,
     filelist_cache_clear(&filelist->filelist_cache, filelist->filelist_cache.size);
   }
 
-  const int removed_files = filelist_intern_free_main_files(filelist);
-
   filelist->filelist.entries_num -= removed_files;
   filelist->filelist.entries_filtered_num = FILEDIR_NBR_ENTRIES_UNSET;
   BLI_assert(filelist->filelist.entries_num > FILEDIR_NBR_ENTRIES_UNSET);