diff --git a/frigate/record/cleanup.py b/frigate/record/cleanup.py
index e6bb41da3..7b3bc7e8d 100644
--- a/frigate/record/cleanup.py
+++ b/frigate/record/cleanup.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from frigate.config import FrigateConfig, RetainModeEnum
 from frigate.const import CACHE_DIR, RECORD_DIR
 from frigate.models import Event, Recordings
 from frigate.record.util import remove_empty_directories, sync_recordings
-from frigate.util.builtin import get_tomorrow_at_time
+from frigate.util.builtin import clear_and_unlink, get_tomorrow_at_time
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -31,11 +31,7 @@ class RecordingCleanup(threading.Thread):
             logger.debug(f"Checking tmp clip {p}.")
             if p.stat().st_mtime < (datetime.datetime.now().timestamp() - 60 * 1):
                 logger.debug("Deleting tmp clip.")
-
-                # empty contents of file before unlinking https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/issues/4769
-                with open(p, "w"):
-                    pass
-                p.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+                clear_and_unlink(p)
 
     def expire_recordings(self) -> None:
         """Delete recordings based on retention config."""
diff --git a/frigate/storage.py b/frigate/storage.py
index d7be876e2..029c5c388 100644
--- a/frigate/storage.py
+++ b/frigate/storage.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from peewee import fn
 from frigate.config import FrigateConfig
 from frigate.const import RECORD_DIR
 from frigate.models import Event, Recordings
+from frigate.util.builtin import clear_and_unlink
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 bandwidth_equation = Recordings.segment_size / (
@@ -160,7 +161,7 @@ class StorageMaintainer(threading.Thread):
             # Delete recordings not retained indefinitely
             if not keep:
                 try:
-                    Path(recording.path).unlink(missing_ok=False)
+                    clear_and_unlink(Path(recording.path), missing_ok=False)
                     deleted_recordings.add(recording.id)
                     deleted_segments_size += recording.segment_size
                 except FileNotFoundError:
@@ -188,7 +189,7 @@ class StorageMaintainer(threading.Thread):
                     break
 
                 try:
-                    Path(recording.path).unlink(missing_ok=False)
+                    clear_and_unlink(Path(recording.path), missing_ok=False)
                     deleted_segments_size += recording.segment_size
                     deleted_recordings.add(recording.id)
                 except FileNotFoundError:
diff --git a/frigate/util/builtin.py b/frigate/util/builtin.py
index b93bfd214..ff30952bb 100644
--- a/frigate/util/builtin.py
+++ b/frigate/util/builtin.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import shlex
 import urllib.parse
 from collections import Counter
 from collections.abc import Mapping
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Tuple
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -269,3 +270,15 @@ def get_tomorrow_at_time(hour: int) -> datetime.datetime:
     return tomorrow.replace(hour=hour, minute=0, second=0).astimezone(
         datetime.timezone.utc
     )
+
+
+def clear_and_unlink(file: Path, missing_ok: bool = True) -> None:
+    """clear file then unlink to avoid space retained by file descriptors."""
+    if not missing_ok and not file.exists():
+        raise FileNotFoundError()
+
+    # empty contents of file before unlinking https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/issues/4769
+    with open(file, "w"):
+        pass
+
+    file.unlink(missing_ok=missing_ok)