diff --git a/internal/irzstd/disk.go b/internal/irzstd/disk.go
index 43e2ecc..a31576d 100644
--- a/internal/irzstd/disk.go
+++ b/internal/irzstd/disk.go
@@ -52,16 +52,16 @@ type diskWriter struct {
 //
 // Returns:
 //   - diskWriter: Disk writer for Zstd compressed IR
-//   - err: Error creating new buffers, error opening Zstd/IR writers
+//   - err: Error creating new buffers, error opening Zstd writer
 func NewDiskWriter(irPath string, zstdPath string) (*diskWriter, error) {
 	irFile, zstdFile, err := newFileBuffers(irPath, zstdPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	irWriter, zstdWriter, err := newIrZstdWriters(zstdFile, irFile)
+	zstdWriter, err := zstd.NewWriter(zstdFile)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error opening Zstd writer: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	diskWriter := diskWriter{
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ func NewDiskWriter(irPath string, zstdPath string) (*diskWriter, error) {
 		irFile:     irFile,
 		zstdPath:   zstdPath,
 		zstdFile:   zstdFile,
-		irWriter:   irWriter,
 		zstdWriter: zstdWriter,
 	}
 
@@ -106,7 +105,6 @@ func RecoverWriter(irPath string, zstdPath string) (*diskWriter, error) {
 		irFile:     irFile,
 		zstdPath:   zstdPath,
 		zstdFile:   zstdFile,
-		irWriter:   nil,
 		zstdWriter: zstdWriter,
 	}
 
@@ -131,7 +129,10 @@ func RecoverWriter(irPath string, zstdPath string) (*diskWriter, error) {
 
 // Converts log events to Zstd compressed IR and outputs to the Zstd file. IR is temporarily
 // stored in the IR file until it surpasses [irSizeThreshold] with compression to Zstd pushed out
-// to a later call. See [diskWriter] for more specific details on behaviour.
+// to a later call. See [diskWriter] for more specific details on behaviour. The IR writer is lazily
+// initialized on the first write. If initialized in [Reset], the preamble would make the IR file
+// non-empty even though there are no logs. Non-empty IR files persist across recovery and could
+// lead to empty files being uploaded to S3.
 //
 // Parameters:
 //   - logEvents: A slice of log events to be encoded
@@ -140,6 +141,14 @@ func RecoverWriter(irPath string, zstdPath string) (*diskWriter, error) {
 //   - numEvents: Number of log events successfully written to IR writer buffer
 //   - err: Error writing IR/Zstd, error flushing buffers
 func (w *diskWriter) WriteIrZstd(logEvents []ffi.LogEvent) (int, error) {
+	if w.irWriter == nil {
+		var err error
+		w.irWriter, err = ir.NewWriter[ir.FourByteEncoding](w.irFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, fmt.Errorf("error creating IR writer: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	numBytes, numEvents, err := writeIr(w.irWriter, logEvents)
 	if err != nil {
 		return numEvents, err
@@ -197,18 +206,12 @@ func (w *diskWriter) CloseStreams() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// Reinitialize [diskWriter] after calling CloseStreams(). Resets individual IR and Zstd writers and
-// associated buffers.
+// Reinitialize [diskWriter] after calling CloseStreams(). Resets Zstd writer and associated
+// buffer.
 //
 // Returns:
-//   - err: Error opening IR writer, error IR buffer not empty
+//   - err: Error IR buffer not empty
 func (w *diskWriter) Reset() error {
-	var err error
-	w.irWriter, err = ir.NewWriter[ir.FourByteEncoding](w.irFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	// Flush should be called prior to reset, so buffer should be empty. There may be a future
 	// use case to truncate a non-empty IR buffer; however, there is currently no use case
 	// so safer to throw an error.
@@ -216,7 +219,7 @@ func (w *diskWriter) Reset() error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error IR buffer is not empty")
 	}
 
-	_, err = w.zstdFile.Seek(0, io.SeekStart)
+	_, err := w.zstdFile.Seek(0, io.SeekStart)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/irzstd/writer.go b/internal/irzstd/writer.go
index a38ab45..2f2a2db 100644
--- a/internal/irzstd/writer.go
+++ b/internal/irzstd/writer.go
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 
-	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
-
 	"github.com/y-scope/clp-ffi-go/ffi"
 	"github.com/y-scope/clp-ffi-go/ir"
 )
@@ -87,29 +85,3 @@ func writeIr(irWriter *ir.Writer, logEvents []ffi.LogEvent) (int, int, error) {
 	}
 	return numBytes, numEvents, nil
 }
-
-// Opens a new [ir.Writer] and [zstd.Encoder].
-//
-// Parameters:
-//   - zstdOutput: Output destination for Zstd
-//   - irOutput: Output destination for IR
-//
-// Returns:
-//   - irWriter: Writer for CLP IR
-//   - zstdWriter: Writer for Zstd
-//   - err: Error opening IR/Zstd writer
-func newIrZstdWriters(
-	zstdOutput io.Writer,
-	irOutput io.Writer,
-) (*ir.Writer, *zstd.Encoder, error) {
-	zstdWriter, err := zstd.NewWriter(zstdOutput)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("error opening Zstd writer: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	irWriter, err := ir.NewWriter[ir.FourByteEncoding](irOutput)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("error opening IR writer: %w", err)
-	}
-	return irWriter, zstdWriter, err
-}