diff --git a/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/Source/Integration/Assets/AssetCommon.h b/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/Source/Integration/Assets/AssetCommon.h
index 9b174c0620..ca0f6d996d 100644
--- a/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/Source/Integration/Assets/AssetCommon.h
+++ b/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/Source/Integration/Assets/AssetCommon.h
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ namespace EMotionFX
 
             void ReleaseEMotionFXData()
             {
-                m_emfxNativeData = {};
+                m_emfxNativeData.clear();
+                m_emfxNativeData.shrink_to_fit();
             }
 
             AZStd::vector<AZ::u8> m_emfxNativeData;