diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index 169a930d..5457c68c 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -2176,7 +2176,8 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::setObjectDescription(
     // This is called during parsing on newly created direct objects,
     // so we can't call dereference() here.
     if (isInitialized() && obj.get()) {
-        obj->setDescription(owning_qpdf, object_description);
+        auto descr = std::make_shared<std::string>(object_description);
+        obj->setDescription(owning_qpdf, descr);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFParser.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFParser.cc
index 8bc9e10a..70c328e1 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFParser.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFParser.cc
@@ -419,11 +419,10 @@ QPDFParser::setDescription(
     qpdf_offset_t parsed_offset) const
 {
     if (auto& obj = oh.obj) {
-        obj->setDescription(
-            context,
-            (input->getName() + ", " + object_description + " at offset " +
-             std::to_string(descr_offset)),
-            parsed_offset);
+        auto descr = std::make_shared<std::string>(
+            input->getName() + ", " + object_description + " at offset " +
+            std::to_string(descr_offset));
+        obj->setDescription(context, descr, parsed_offset);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
index 7ff7a1b8..b5aac026 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
@@ -123,10 +123,9 @@ QPDF_Stream::QPDF_Stream(
         throw std::logic_error("stream object instantiated with non-dictionary "
                                "object for dictionary");
     }
-    setDescription(
-        qpdf,
-        qpdf->getFilename() + ", stream object " + og.unparse(' '),
-        offset);
+    auto descr = std::make_shared<std::string>(
+        qpdf->getFilename() + ", stream object " + og.unparse(' '));
+    setDescription(qpdf, descr, offset);
 }
 
 std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject>
@@ -284,7 +283,7 @@ QPDF_Stream::getStreamJSON(
 
 void
 QPDF_Stream::setDescription(
-    QPDF* qpdf, std::string const& description, qpdf_offset_t offset)
+    QPDF* qpdf, std::shared_ptr<std::string>& description, qpdf_offset_t offset)
 {
     this->QPDFValue::setDescription(qpdf, description, offset);
     setDictDescription();
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObject_private.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObject_private.hh
index 3356e3e5..416483c2 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObject_private.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFObject_private.hh
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ class QPDFObject
     }
     void
     setDescription(
-        QPDF* qpdf, std::string const& description, qpdf_offset_t offset = -1)
+        QPDF* qpdf,
+        std::shared_ptr<std::string>& description,
+        qpdf_offset_t offset = -1)
     {
         return value->setDescription(qpdf, description, offset);
     }
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFParser.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFParser.hh
index 45d36695..28768df2 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFParser.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFParser.hh
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ class QPDFParser
     void warn(qpdf_offset_t offset, std::string const& msg) const;
     void warn(std::string const& msg) const;
     static void warn(QPDF*, QPDFExc const&);
-
     void setDescription(
         QPDFObjectHandle oh,
         qpdf_offset_t descr_offset,
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFValue.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFValue.hh
index e4c038b6..d6fab5ca 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFValue.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDFValue.hh
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ class QPDFValue
     virtual JSON getJSON(int json_version) = 0;
     virtual void
     setDescription(
-        QPDF* qpdf_p, std::string const& description, qpdf_offset_t offset)
+        QPDF* qpdf_p,
+        std::shared_ptr<std::string>& description,
+        qpdf_offset_t offset)
     {
         qpdf = qpdf_p;
         object_description = description;
@@ -34,8 +36,9 @@ class QPDFValue
     void
     setDefaultDescription(QPDF* a_qpdf, QPDFObjGen const& a_og)
     {
-        if (object_description.empty()) {
-            object_description = "object " + a_og.unparse(' ');
+        if (!object_description) {
+            object_description =
+                std::make_shared<std::string>("object " + a_og.unparse(' '));
         }
         qpdf = a_qpdf;
         og = a_og;
@@ -44,13 +47,14 @@ class QPDFValue
     getDescription(QPDF*& qpdf_p, std::string& description)
     {
         qpdf_p = qpdf;
-        description = object_description;
+        description = object_description ? *object_description : "";
         return qpdf != nullptr;
     }
     bool
     hasDescription()
     {
-        return qpdf != nullptr && !object_description.empty();
+        return qpdf != nullptr && object_description &&
+            !object_description->empty();
     }
     void
     setParsedOffset(qpdf_offset_t offset)
@@ -109,7 +113,7 @@ class QPDFValue
   private:
     QPDFValue(QPDFValue const&) = delete;
     QPDFValue& operator=(QPDFValue const&) = delete;
-    std::string object_description;
+    std::shared_ptr<std::string> object_description;
 
     const qpdf_object_type_e type_code{::ot_uninitialized};
     char const* type_name{"uninitialized"};
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Stream.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Stream.hh
index a436420a..c0694c60 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Stream.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/QPDF_Stream.hh
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ class QPDF_Stream: public QPDFValue
     virtual std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> copy(bool shallow = false);
     virtual std::string unparse();
     virtual JSON getJSON(int json_version);
-    virtual void
-    setDescription(QPDF*, std::string const&, qpdf_offset_t offset);
+    virtual void setDescription(
+        QPDF*, std::shared_ptr<std::string>& description, qpdf_offset_t offset);
     virtual void disconnect();
     QPDFObjectHandle getDict() const;
     bool isDataModified() const;