diff --git a/src/builtin.c b/src/builtin.c
index 2973c4fda4..cfdd4fef6f 100644
--- a/src/builtin.c
+++ b/src/builtin.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ void *alloca (size_t);
 #include "linker.h"
 #include "locfile.h"
 #include "jv_unicode.h"
+#include "jv_alloc.h"
 
 
 static jv type_error(jv bad, const char* msg) {
@@ -645,7 +646,7 @@ static jv f_format(jq_state *jq, jv input, jv fmt) {
     const unsigned char* data = (const unsigned char*)jv_string_value(input);
     int len = jv_string_length_bytes(jv_copy(input));
     size_t decoded_len = (3 * len) / 4; // 3 usable bytes for every 4 bytes of input
-    char *result = malloc(decoded_len * sizeof(char));
+    char *result = jv_mem_calloc(decoded_len, sizeof(char));
     memset(result, 0, decoded_len * sizeof(char));
     uint32_t ri = 0;
     int input_bytes_read=0;
diff --git a/src/compile.c b/src/compile.c
index 7960cfe6a6..afd42aed58 100644
--- a/src/compile.c
+++ b/src/compile.c
@@ -1296,7 +1296,7 @@ static int compile(struct bytecode* bc, block b, struct locfile* lf, jv args, jv
   bc->codelen = pos;
   bc->debuginfo = jv_object_set(bc->debuginfo, jv_string("locals"), localnames);
   if (bc->nsubfunctions) {
-    bc->subfunctions = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(struct bytecode*) * bc->nsubfunctions);
+    bc->subfunctions = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(struct bytecode*), bc->nsubfunctions);
     for (inst* curr = b.first; curr; curr = curr->next) {
       if (curr->op == CLOSURE_CREATE) {
         struct bytecode* subfn = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(struct bytecode));
@@ -1321,7 +1321,7 @@ static int compile(struct bytecode* bc, block b, struct locfile* lf, jv args, jv
   } else {
     bc->subfunctions = 0;
   }
-  uint16_t* code = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(uint16_t) * bc->codelen);
+  uint16_t* code = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(uint16_t), bc->codelen);
   bc->code = code;
   pos = 0;
   jv constant_pool = jv_array();
@@ -1386,7 +1386,7 @@ int block_compile(block b, struct bytecode** out, struct locfile* lf, jv args) {
   bc->globals = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(struct symbol_table));
   int ncfunc = count_cfunctions(b);
   bc->globals->ncfunctions = 0;
-  bc->globals->cfunctions = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(struct cfunction) * ncfunc);
+  bc->globals->cfunctions = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(struct cfunction), ncfunc);
   bc->globals->cfunc_names = jv_array();
   bc->debuginfo = jv_object_set(jv_object(), jv_string("name"), jv_null());
   jv env = jv_invalid();
diff --git a/src/jv_aux.c b/src/jv_aux.c
index db2e0ef814..129cd043d1 100644
--- a/src/jv_aux.c
+++ b/src/jv_aux.c
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ jv jv_keys_unsorted(jv x) {
 jv jv_keys(jv x) {
   if (jv_get_kind(x) == JV_KIND_OBJECT) {
     int nkeys = jv_object_length(jv_copy(x));
-    jv* keys = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(jv) * nkeys);
+    jv* keys = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(jv), nkeys);
     int kidx = 0;
     jv_object_foreach(x, key, value) {
       keys[kidx++] = key;
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ static struct sort_entry* sort_items(jv objects, jv keys) {
   assert(jv_get_kind(keys) == JV_KIND_ARRAY);
   assert(jv_array_length(jv_copy(objects)) == jv_array_length(jv_copy(keys)));
   int n = jv_array_length(jv_copy(objects));
-  struct sort_entry* entries = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(struct sort_entry) * n);
+  struct sort_entry* entries = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(struct sort_entry), n);
   for (int i=0; i<n; i++) {
     entries[i].object = jv_array_get(jv_copy(objects), i);
     entries[i].key = jv_array_get(jv_copy(keys), i);
diff --git a/src/jv_print.c b/src/jv_print.c
index cb2824d21f..0127f0ca7d 100644
--- a/src/jv_print.c
+++ b/src/jv_print.c
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ static void put_buf(const char *s, int len, FILE *fout, jv *strout, int is_tty)
     if (len == -1)
       len = strlen(s);
     wl = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, s, len, NULL, 0);
-    ws = malloc((wl + 1) * sizeof(*ws));
+    ws = jv_mem_calloc((wl + 1), sizeof(*ws));
     if (!ws)
       return;
     wl = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, s, len, ws, wl + 1);
diff --git a/src/linker.c b/src/linker.c
index ad869da34e..6cf1c879ef 100644
--- a/src/linker.c
+++ b/src/linker.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "parser.h"
 #include "util.h"
 #include "compile.h"
+#include "jv_alloc.h"
 
 struct lib_loading_state {
   char **names;
@@ -324,8 +325,8 @@ static int load_library(jq_state *jq, jv lib_path, int is_data, int raw, const c
     }
   }
   state_idx = lib_state->ct++;
-  lib_state->names = realloc(lib_state->names, lib_state->ct * sizeof(const char *));
-  lib_state->defs = realloc(lib_state->defs, lib_state->ct * sizeof(block));
+  lib_state->names = jv_mem_realloc(lib_state->names, lib_state->ct * sizeof(const char *));
+  lib_state->defs = jv_mem_realloc(lib_state->defs, lib_state->ct * sizeof(block));
   lib_state->names[state_idx] = strdup(jv_string_value(lib_path));
   lib_state->defs[state_idx] = program;
   *out_block = program;
diff --git a/src/locfile.c b/src/locfile.c
index 97bb3482d9..90772a3f4f 100644
--- a/src/locfile.c
+++ b/src/locfile.c
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ struct locfile* locfile_init(jq_state *jq, const char *fname, const char* data,
   for (int i=0; i<length; i++) {
     if (data[i] == '\n') l->nlines++;
   }
-  l->linemap = jv_mem_alloc(sizeof(int) * (l->nlines + 1));
+  l->linemap = jv_mem_calloc(sizeof(int), (l->nlines + 1));
   l->linemap[0] = 0;
   int line = 1;
   for (int i=0; i<length; i++) {
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 75de4e3cec..4a1b4bf54a 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ jv jq_realpath(jv path) {
   path_max = PATH_MAX;
 #endif
   if (path_max > 0) {
-     buf = malloc(sizeof(char) * path_max);
+     buf = jv_mem_alloc(path_max);
   }
 #ifdef WIN32
   char *tmp = _fullpath(buf, jv_string_value(path), path_max);