diff --git a/src/main/scala/sbtassembly/Log4j2MergeStrategy.scala b/src/main/scala/sbtassembly/Log4j2MergeStrategy.scala
index 6ebeb87..76162fd 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/sbtassembly/Log4j2MergeStrategy.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/sbtassembly/Log4j2MergeStrategy.scala
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ object Log4j2MergeStrategy {
         () => new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(mergedDatFile))
       }
     }
-    datFiles.foreach(IO.delete)
     Right(JarEntry(dependencies.head.target, stream) +: Vector.empty)
   }
 }