diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/raspberrypi.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/raspberrypi.cpp
index d3212b193ced..32b282b4bdbd 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/raspberrypi.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/raspberrypi/raspberrypi.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include <utility>
 
 #include <libcamera/base/shared_fd.h>
+#include <libcamera/base/timer.h>
 #include <libcamera/base/utils.h>
 
 #include <libcamera/camera.h>
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@
 #include "dma_heaps.h"
 #include "rpi_stream.h"
 
+using namespace std::literals::chrono_literals;
+
 namespace libcamera {
 
 LOG_DEFINE_CATEGORY(RPI)
@@ -288,6 +291,9 @@ public:
 	/* Has this camera been reconfigured? */
 	bool reallocate_;
 
+	/* Timer to free internal buffers once stopDevice() has been called. */
+	Timer stopTimer_;
+
 private:
 	void checkRequestCompleted();
 	void fillRequestMetadata(const ControlList &bufferControls,
@@ -991,6 +997,10 @@ int PipelineHandlerRPi::start(Camera *camera, const ControlList *controls)
 	RPiCameraData *data = cameraData(camera);
 	int ret;
 
+	/* Disable the stop timeout waiting to release buffers after a stop(). */
+	data->stopTimer_.stop();
+	data->stopTimer_.timeout.disconnect();
+
 	for (auto const stream : data->streams_)
 		stream->resetBuffers();
 
@@ -1071,6 +1081,13 @@ void PipelineHandlerRPi::stopDevice(Camera *camera)
 
 	/* Stop the IPA. */
 	data->ipa_->stop();
+
+	/*
+	 * Start a 5 second timer once the camera is stopped, and on a timeout,
+	 * release all internally allocated buffers.
+	 */
+	data->stopTimer_.timeout.connect(data, &RPiCameraData::freeBuffers);
+	data->stopTimer_.start(5s);
 }
 
 int PipelineHandlerRPi::queueRequestDevice(Camera *camera, Request *request)