diff --git a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
index 742c17f49c..10baa6be79 100644
--- a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
+++ b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
@@ -211,11 +211,15 @@ public final class Unpooled {
      * Creates a new buffer which wraps the specified buffer's readable bytes.
      * A modification on the specified buffer's content will be visible to the
      * returned buffer.
+     * @param buffer The buffer to wrap. Reference count ownership of this variable is transfered to this method.
+     * @return The readable portion of the {@code buffer}, or an empty buffer if there is no readable portion.
+     * The caller is responsible for releasing this buffer.
      */
     public static ByteBuf wrappedBuffer(ByteBuf buffer) {
         if (buffer.isReadable()) {
             return buffer.slice();
         } else {
+            buffer.release();
             return EMPTY_BUFFER;
         }
     }
@@ -233,6 +237,8 @@ public final class Unpooled {
      * Creates a new big-endian composite buffer which wraps the readable bytes of the
      * specified buffers without copying them.  A modification on the content
      * of the specified buffers will be visible to the returned buffer.
+     * @param buffers The buffers to wrap. Reference count ownership of all variables is transfered to this method.
+     * @return The readable portion of the {@code buffers}. The caller is responsible for releasing this buffer.
      */
     public static ByteBuf wrappedBuffer(ByteBuf... buffers) {
         return wrappedBuffer(16, buffers);
@@ -285,20 +291,29 @@ public final class Unpooled {
      * Creates a new big-endian composite buffer which wraps the readable bytes of the
      * specified buffers without copying them.  A modification on the content
      * of the specified buffers will be visible to the returned buffer.
+     * @param maxNumComponents Advisement as to how many independent buffers are allowed to exist before
+     * consolidation occurs.
+     * @param buffers The buffers to wrap. Reference count ownership of all variables is transfered to this method.
+     * @return The readable portion of the {@code buffers}. The caller is responsible for releasing this buffer.
      */
     public static ByteBuf wrappedBuffer(int maxNumComponents, ByteBuf... buffers) {
         switch (buffers.length) {
         case 0:
             break;
         case 1:
-            if (buffers[0].isReadable()) {
-                return wrappedBuffer(buffers[0].order(BIG_ENDIAN));
+            ByteBuf buffer = buffers[0];
+            if (buffer.isReadable()) {
+                return wrappedBuffer(buffer.order(BIG_ENDIAN));
+            } else {
+                buffer.release();
             }
             break;
         default:
             for (ByteBuf b: buffers) {
                 if (b.isReadable()) {
                     return new CompositeByteBuf(ALLOC, false, maxNumComponents, buffers);
+                } else {
+                    b.release();
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/UnpooledTest.java b/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/UnpooledTest.java
index 0b2e5dc816..d0dfc1ed29 100644
--- a/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/UnpooledTest.java
+++ b/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/UnpooledTest.java
@@ -283,6 +283,42 @@ public class UnpooledTest {
                         ByteBuffer.wrap(new byte[] { 3 }))));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testSingleWrappedByteBufReleased() {
+        ByteBuf buf = buffer(12).writeByte(0);
+        ByteBuf wrapped = wrappedBuffer(buf);
+        assertTrue(wrapped.release());
+        assertEquals(0, buf.refCnt());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSingleUnReadableWrappedByteBufReleased() {
+        ByteBuf buf = buffer(12);
+        ByteBuf wrapped = wrappedBuffer(buf);
+        assertFalse(wrapped.release()); // EMPTY_BUFFER cannot be released
+        assertEquals(0, buf.refCnt());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMultiByteBufReleased() {
+        ByteBuf buf1 = buffer(12).writeByte(0);
+        ByteBuf buf2 = buffer(12).writeByte(0);
+        ByteBuf wrapped = wrappedBuffer(16, buf1, buf2);
+        assertTrue(wrapped.release());
+        assertEquals(0, buf1.refCnt());
+        assertEquals(0, buf2.refCnt());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMultiUnReadableByteBufReleased() {
+        ByteBuf buf1 = buffer(12);
+        ByteBuf buf2 = buffer(12);
+        ByteBuf wrapped = wrappedBuffer(16, buf1, buf2);
+        assertFalse(wrapped.release()); // EMPTY_BUFFER cannot be released
+        assertEquals(0, buf1.refCnt());
+        assertEquals(0, buf2.refCnt());
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testCopiedBuffer() {
         assertEquals(16, copiedBuffer(ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(16)).capacity());
diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSslContext.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSslContext.java
index 8eeeeee687..abfe9f25f3 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSslContext.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/OpenSslContext.java
@@ -486,9 +486,18 @@ public abstract class OpenSslContext extends SslContext {
         ByteBuf buffer = Unpooled.directBuffer();
         try {
             buffer.writeBytes(BEGIN_PRIVATE_KEY);
-            ByteBuf encoded = Base64.encode(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(key.getEncoded()), true);
-            buffer.writeBytes(encoded);
-            encoded.release();
+            ByteBuf wrappedBuf = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(key.getEncoded());
+            final ByteBuf encodedBuf;
+            try {
+                encodedBuf = Base64.encode(wrappedBuf, true);
+                try {
+                    buffer.writeBytes(encodedBuf);
+                } finally {
+                    encodedBuf.release();
+                }
+            } finally {
+                wrappedBuf.release();
+            }
             buffer.writeBytes(END_PRIVATE_KEY);
             return newBIO(buffer);
         } finally {
@@ -508,9 +517,17 @@ public abstract class OpenSslContext extends SslContext {
         try {
             for (X509Certificate cert: certChain) {
                 buffer.writeBytes(BEGIN_CERT);
-                ByteBuf encoded = Base64.encode(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(cert.getEncoded()), true);
-                buffer.writeBytes(encoded);
-                encoded.release();
+                ByteBuf wrappedBuf = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(cert.getEncoded());
+                try {
+                    ByteBuf encodedBuf = Base64.encode(wrappedBuf, true);
+                    try {
+                        buffer.writeBytes(encodedBuf);
+                    } finally {
+                        encodedBuf.release();
+                    }
+                } finally {
+                    wrappedBuf.release();
+                }
                 buffer.writeBytes(END_CERT);
             }
             return newBIO(buffer);
diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/util/SelfSignedCertificate.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/util/SelfSignedCertificate.java
index f82b10af78..71f72f14a3 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/util/SelfSignedCertificate.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/util/SelfSignedCertificate.java
@@ -219,10 +219,21 @@ public final class SelfSignedCertificate {
     static String[] newSelfSignedCertificate(
             String fqdn, PrivateKey key, X509Certificate cert) throws IOException, CertificateEncodingException {
         // Encode the private key into a file.
-        ByteBuf enc = Base64.encode(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(key.getEncoded()), true);
-        String keyText = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n" + enc.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII) +
-                "\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n";
-        enc.release();
+        ByteBuf wrappedBuf = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(key.getEncoded());
+        ByteBuf encodedBuf;
+        final String keyText;
+        try {
+            encodedBuf = Base64.encode(wrappedBuf, true);
+            try {
+                keyText = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n" +
+                          encodedBuf.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII) +
+                          "\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n";
+            } finally {
+                encodedBuf.release();
+            }
+        } finally {
+            wrappedBuf.release();
+        }
 
         File keyFile = File.createTempFile("keyutil_" + fqdn + '_', ".key");
         keyFile.deleteOnExit();
@@ -239,12 +250,21 @@ public final class SelfSignedCertificate {
             }
         }
 
-        ByteBuf encoded = Base64.encode(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(cert.getEncoded()), true);
-        // Encode the certificate into a CRT file.
-        String certText = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n" +
-                encoded.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII) +
-                "\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n";
-        encoded.release();
+        wrappedBuf = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(cert.getEncoded());
+        final String certText;
+        try {
+            encodedBuf = Base64.encode(wrappedBuf, true);
+            try {
+                // Encode the certificate into a CRT file.
+                certText = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n" +
+                           encodedBuf.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII) +
+                           "\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n";
+            } finally {
+                encodedBuf.release();
+            }
+        } finally {
+            wrappedBuf.release();
+        }
 
         File certFile = File.createTempFile("keyutil_" + fqdn + '_', ".crt");
         certFile.deleteOnExit();