diff --git a/migration/migration.c b/migration/migration.c
index 7e5dbd9b92..a0db40d364 100644
--- a/migration/migration.c
+++ b/migration/migration.c
@@ -286,7 +286,6 @@ static void process_incoming_migration_bh(void *opaque)
     } else {
         runstate_set(global_state_get_runstate());
     }
-    migrate_decompress_threads_join();
     /*
      * This must happen after any state changes since as soon as an external
      * observer sees this event they might start to prod at the VM assuming
@@ -349,7 +348,6 @@ static void process_incoming_migration_co(void *opaque)
         migrate_set_state(&mis->state, MIGRATION_STATUS_ACTIVE,
                           MIGRATION_STATUS_FAILED);
         error_report("load of migration failed: %s", strerror(-ret));
-        migrate_decompress_threads_join();
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     mis->bh = qemu_bh_new(process_incoming_migration_bh, mis);
@@ -360,7 +358,6 @@ void migration_fd_process_incoming(QEMUFile *f)
 {
     Coroutine *co = qemu_coroutine_create(process_incoming_migration_co, f);
 
-    migrate_decompress_threads_create();
     qemu_file_set_blocking(f, false);
     qemu_coroutine_enter(co);
 }
@@ -827,7 +824,6 @@ static void migrate_fd_cleanup(void *opaque)
         }
         qemu_mutex_lock_iothread();
 
-        migrate_compress_threads_join();
         qemu_fclose(s->to_dst_file);
         s->to_dst_file = NULL;
     }
@@ -1990,7 +1986,6 @@ void migrate_fd_connect(MigrationState *s)
         }
     }
 
-    migrate_compress_threads_create();
     qemu_thread_create(&s->thread, "live_migration", migration_thread, s,
                        QEMU_THREAD_JOINABLE);
     s->migration_thread_running = true;
diff --git a/migration/ram.c b/migration/ram.c
index 73aec34161..1b08296d1b 100644
--- a/migration/ram.c
+++ b/migration/ram.c
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ static inline void terminate_compression_threads(void)
     }
 }
 
-void migrate_compress_threads_join(void)
+static void compress_threads_save_cleanup(void)
 {
     int i, thread_count;
 
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ void migrate_compress_threads_join(void)
     comp_param = NULL;
 }
 
-void migrate_compress_threads_create(void)
+static void compress_threads_save_setup(void)
 {
     int i, thread_count;
 
@@ -1390,6 +1390,7 @@ static void ram_save_cleanup(void *opaque)
     }
     XBZRLE_cache_unlock();
     migration_page_queue_free(*rsp);
+    compress_threads_save_cleanup();
     g_free(*rsp);
     *rsp = NULL;
 }
@@ -1923,6 +1924,7 @@ static int ram_save_setup(QEMUFile *f, void *opaque)
     }
 
     rcu_read_unlock();
+    compress_threads_save_setup();
 
     ram_control_before_iterate(f, RAM_CONTROL_SETUP);
     ram_control_after_iterate(f, RAM_CONTROL_SETUP);
@@ -2231,7 +2233,7 @@ static void wait_for_decompress_done(void)
     qemu_mutex_unlock(&decomp_done_lock);
 }
 
-void migrate_decompress_threads_create(void)
+static void compress_threads_load_setup(void)
 {
     int i, thread_count;
 
@@ -2255,7 +2257,7 @@ void migrate_decompress_threads_create(void)
     }
 }
 
-void migrate_decompress_threads_join(void)
+static void compress_threads_load_cleanup(void)
 {
     int i, thread_count;
 
@@ -2321,12 +2323,14 @@ static void decompress_data_with_multi_threads(QEMUFile *f,
 static int ram_load_setup(QEMUFile *f, void *opaque)
 {
     xbzrle_load_setup();
+    compress_threads_load_setup();
     return 0;
 }
 
 static int ram_load_cleanup(void *opaque)
 {
     xbzrle_load_cleanup();
+    compress_threads_load_cleanup();
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/migration/ram.h b/migration/ram.h
index a8b79a4d4c..c081fde86c 100644
--- a/migration/ram.h
+++ b/migration/ram.h
@@ -39,11 +39,6 @@ int64_t xbzrle_cache_resize(int64_t new_size);
 uint64_t ram_bytes_remaining(void);
 uint64_t ram_bytes_total(void);
 
-void migrate_compress_threads_create(void);
-void migrate_compress_threads_join(void);
-void migrate_decompress_threads_create(void);
-void migrate_decompress_threads_join(void);
-
 uint64_t ram_pagesize_summary(void);
 int ram_save_queue_pages(const char *rbname, ram_addr_t start, ram_addr_t len);
 void acct_update_position(QEMUFile *f, size_t size, bool zero);