diff -r fc3eab44765f Doc/library/aifc.rst
--- a/Doc/library/aifc.rst	Wed Dec 28 20:03:23 2016 -0800
+++ b/Doc/library/aifc.rst	Thu Dec 29 19:16:00 2016 -0500
@@ -139,9 +139,9 @@
 
 
 .. method:: aifc.close()
-
-   Close the AIFF file.  After calling this method, the object can no longer be
-   used.
+  
+   Close the AIFF file if it was opened by :mod:`aifc`.  After calling this method,
+   the object can no longer be used.
 
 Objects returned by :func:`.open` when a file is opened for writing have all the
 above methods, except for :meth:`readframes` and :meth:`setpos`.  In addition
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@
 
 .. method:: aifc.close()
 
-   Close the AIFF file.  The header of the file is updated to reflect the actual
-   size of the audio data. After calling this method, the object can no longer be
-   used.
+   Close the AIFF file if it was opened by :mod:`aifc`.  The header of the file is
+   updated to reflect the actual size of the audio data.  After calling this method,
+   the object can no longer be used.
 
diff -r fc3eab44765f Lib/aifc.py
--- a/Lib/aifc.py	Wed Dec 28 20:03:23 2016 -0800
+++ b/Lib/aifc.py	Thu Dec 29 19:16:00 2016 -0500
@@ -343,10 +343,17 @@
             raise Error('COMM chunk and/or SSND chunk missing')
 
     def __init__(self, f):
+        self._i_opened_the_file = None
         if isinstance(f, str):
             f = builtins.open(f, 'rb')
+            self._i_opened_the_file = f
         # else, assume it is an open file object already
-        self.initfp(f)
+        try:
+            self.initfp(f)
+        except:
+            if self._i_opened_the_file:
+                f.close()
+            raise
 
     def __enter__(self):
         return self
@@ -365,9 +372,10 @@
         self._soundpos = 0
 
     def close(self):
-        file = self._file
+        self._file = None
+        file = self._i_opened_the_file
         if file is not None:
-            self._file = None
+            self._i_opened_the_file = None
             file.close()
 
     def tell(self):
@@ -542,17 +550,23 @@
     # _datawritten -- the size of the audio samples actually written
 
     def __init__(self, f):
+        self._i_opened_the_file = None
         if isinstance(f, str):
             filename = f
             f = builtins.open(f, 'wb')
+            self._i_opened_the_file = f
         else:
-            # else, assume it is an open file object already
             filename = '???'
-        self.initfp(f)
-        if filename[-5:] == '.aiff':
-            self._aifc = 0
-        else:
-            self._aifc = 1
+
+        try:
+            self.initfp(f)
+        except:
+            if self._i_opened_the_file:
+                f.close()
+            raise
+
+        if filename.endswith('.aiff'):
+            self._aifc = 0      # file extension implies AIFF instead of AIFF-C
 
     def initfp(self, file):
         self._file = file
@@ -735,11 +749,12 @@
                   self._marklength:
                 self._patchheader()
         finally:
-            # Prevent ref cycles
             self._convert = None
-            f = self._file
             self._file = None
-            f.close()
+            file = self._i_opened_the_file
+            if file is not None:
+                self._i_opened_the_file = None
+                file.close()
 
     #
     # Internal methods.
diff -r fc3eab44765f Lib/test/test_aifc.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_aifc.py	Wed Dec 28 20:03:23 2016 -0800
+++ b/Lib/test/test_aifc.py	Thu Dec 29 19:16:00 2016 -0500
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 class AifcTest(audiotests.AudioWriteTests,
                audiotests.AudioTestsWithSourceFile):
     module = aifc
-    close_fd = True
     test_unseekable_read = None