diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index e29c051..58538f0 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -849,8 +849,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	else
 		filecnt = options->filecnt;
 
-	files = emalloc(filecnt * sizeof(*files));
-	memset(files, 0, filecnt * sizeof(*files));
+	files = ecalloc(filecnt, sizeof(*files));
 	fileidx = 0;
 
 	if (options->from_stdin) {
diff --git a/nsxiv.h b/nsxiv.h
index 6ac6e4f..a9d4dad 100644
--- a/nsxiv.h
+++ b/nsxiv.h
@@ -345,6 +345,7 @@ typedef struct {
 extern const char *progname;
 
 void* emalloc(size_t);
+void* ecalloc(size_t, size_t);
 void* erealloc(void*, size_t);
 char* estrdup(const char*);
 void error(int, int, const char*, ...);
diff --git a/thumbs.c b/thumbs.c
index b743e53..4c02e6a 100644
--- a/thumbs.c
+++ b/thumbs.c
@@ -149,12 +149,10 @@ void tns_init(tns_t *tns, fileinfo_t *files, const int *cnt, int *sel, win_t *wi
 	int len;
 	const char *homedir, *dsuffix = "";
 
-	if (cnt != NULL && *cnt > 0) {
-		tns->thumbs = emalloc(*cnt * sizeof(thumb_t));
-		memset(tns->thumbs, 0, *cnt * sizeof(thumb_t));
-	} else {
+	if (cnt != NULL && *cnt > 0)
+		tns->thumbs = ecalloc(*cnt, sizeof(thumb_t));
+	else
 		tns->thumbs = NULL;
-	}
 	tns->files = files;
 	tns->cnt = cnt;
 	tns->initnext = tns->loadnext = 0;
diff --git a/util.c b/util.c
index 71ff7be..ef0ec43 100644
--- a/util.c
+++ b/util.c
@@ -38,6 +38,16 @@ void* emalloc(size_t size)
 	return ptr;
 }
 
+void* ecalloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size)
+{
+	void *ptr;
+
+	ptr = calloc(nmemb, size);
+	if (ptr == NULL)
+		error(EXIT_FAILURE, errno, NULL);
+	return ptr;
+}
+
 void* erealloc(void *ptr, size_t size)
 {
 	ptr = realloc(ptr, size);