diff --git a/modules/core/misc/java/src/java/core+Mat.java b/modules/core/misc/java/src/java/core+Mat.java
index 4fd60a79c6..6db255417c 100644
--- a/modules/core/misc/java/src/java/core+Mat.java
+++ b/modules/core/misc/java/src/java/core+Mat.java
@@ -640,7 +640,6 @@ public class Mat {
     {
 
         n_release(nativeObj);
-        n_delete(nativeObj);
 
         return;
     }
@@ -907,6 +906,12 @@ public class Mat {
         return retVal;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
+        n_delete(nativeObj);
+        super.finalize();
+    }
+
     // javadoc:Mat::toString()
     @Override
     public String toString() {
diff --git a/modules/java/generator/gen_java.py b/modules/java/generator/gen_java.py
index eccc541508..cbc28484a5 100755
--- a/modules/java/generator/gen_java.py
+++ b/modules/java/generator/gen_java.py
@@ -1530,7 +1530,7 @@ JNIEXPORT $rtype JNICALL Java_org_opencv_${module}_${clazz}_$fname
             # finalize()
             ci.j_code.write(
 """
-    public void delete() {
+    protected void delete() {
         delete(nativeObj);
     }
 """ )