diff --git a/Lib/test/test_sax.py b/Lib/test/test_sax.py
index 2411895d9d12b1..c7eea6034188e5 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_sax.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sax.py
@@ -175,12 +175,8 @@ def test_parse_bytes(self):
         with self.assertRaises(SAXException):
             self.check_parse(BytesIO(xml_bytes(self.data, 'iso-8859-1', None)))
         make_xml_file(self.data, 'iso-8859-1', None)
-        with support.check_warnings(('unclosed file', ResourceWarning)):
-            # XXX Failed parser leaks an opened file.
-            with self.assertRaises(SAXException):
-                self.check_parse(TESTFN)
-            # Collect leaked file.
-            gc.collect()
+        with self.assertRaises(SAXException):
+            self.check_parse(TESTFN)
         with open(TESTFN, 'rb') as f:
             with self.assertRaises(SAXException):
                 self.check_parse(f)
diff --git a/Lib/xml/sax/__init__.py b/Lib/xml/sax/__init__.py
index ef67ae67a6bdd3..5f65e315866f3b 100644
--- a/Lib/xml/sax/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/xml/sax/__init__.py
@@ -28,9 +28,16 @@
 
 def parse(source, handler, errorHandler=ErrorHandler()):
     parser = make_parser()
-    parser.setContentHandler(handler)
-    parser.setErrorHandler(errorHandler)
-    parser.parse(source)
+    try:
+        parser.setContentHandler(handler)
+        parser.setErrorHandler(errorHandler)
+        parser.parse(source)
+    except:
+        # Third party parsers can have no close() method
+        if hasattr(parser, 'close'):
+            # On error, close the parser to not leak resources like open files
+            parser.close()
+        raise
 
 def parseString(string, handler, errorHandler=ErrorHandler()):
     import io