diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 20ddd77..116425c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
 ### Changed
 
+- Needs at least libosmium version 2.20.0.
 - Switch from RapidJSON to NLohman JSON. RapidJSON hasn't seen an update in
   a long time, so we are using a different JSON library.
 - Removed "spaten" output format.
-- Open writer in getid command earlier, so see potential errors earlier.
+- Open writer in some commands earlier, so we see potential errors earlier.
 - Lots of small code cleanups.
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cf928eb..e29f311 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ option(RUN_TESTS_WITH_BINARY_COMPARE "Run tests that do binary comparisons" ON)
 find_package(Boost 1.55.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 include_directories(SYSTEM ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
-find_package(Osmium 2.17.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS io)
+find_package(Osmium 2.20.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS io)
 include_directories(SYSTEM ${OSMIUM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 find_package(nlohmann_json)
diff --git a/src/command_add_locations_to_ways.cpp b/src/command_add_locations_to_ways.cpp
index b236e34..871b993 100644
--- a/src/command_add_locations_to_ways.cpp
+++ b/src/command_add_locations_to_ways.cpp
@@ -176,6 +176,9 @@ void CommandAddLocationsToWays::find_member_nodes() {
 }
 
 bool CommandAddLocationsToWays::run() {
+    m_output_file.set("locations_on_ways");
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     if (m_keep_member_nodes) {
         m_vout << "Getting all nodes referenced from relations...\n";
         find_member_nodes();
@@ -191,14 +194,12 @@ bool CommandAddLocationsToWays::run() {
         location_handler.ignore_errors();
     }
 
-    m_output_file.set("locations_on_ways");
-
     if (m_input_files.size() == 1) { // single input file
         m_vout << "Copying input file '" << m_input_files[0].filename() << "'...\n";
         osmium::io::Reader reader{m_input_files[0]};
         osmium::io::Header header{reader.header()};
         setup_header(header);
-        osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+        writer.set_header(header);
 
         osmium::ProgressBar progress_bar{reader.file_size(), display_progress()};
         copy_data(progress_bar, reader, writer, location_handler);
@@ -209,7 +210,7 @@ bool CommandAddLocationsToWays::run() {
     } else { // multiple input files
         osmium::io::Header header;
         setup_header(header);
-        osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+        writer.set_header(header);
 
         osmium::ProgressBar progress_bar{file_size_sum(m_input_files), display_progress()};
         for (const auto& input_file : m_input_files) {
diff --git a/src/command_apply_changes.cpp b/src/command_apply_changes.cpp
index 125d9c8..22d712d 100644
--- a/src/command_apply_changes.cpp
+++ b/src/command_apply_changes.cpp
@@ -275,6 +275,13 @@ void CommandApplyChanges::apply_changes_and_write(osmium::ObjectPointerCollectio
 }
 
 bool CommandApplyChanges::run() {
+    if (m_locations_on_ways) {
+        m_output_file.set("locations_on_ways");
+    }
+
+    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     std::vector<osmium::memory::Buffer> changes;
     osmium::ObjectPointerCollection objects;
 
@@ -302,13 +309,7 @@ bool CommandApplyChanges::run() {
     if (m_with_history) {
         header.set_has_multiple_object_versions(true);
     }
-
-    if (m_locations_on_ways) {
-        m_output_file.set("locations_on_ways");
-    }
-
-    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
-    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
     if (m_with_history) {
         // For history files this is a straightforward sort of the change
diff --git a/src/command_derive_changes.cpp b/src/command_derive_changes.cpp
index ae2f6fd..4f92c75 100644
--- a/src/command_derive_changes.cpp
+++ b/src/command_derive_changes.cpp
@@ -151,6 +151,12 @@ void CommandDeriveChanges::write_deleted(osmium::io::Writer& writer, osmium::OSM
 }
 
 bool CommandDeriveChanges::run() {
+    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
+    if (m_output_file.format() != osmium::io::file_format::xml || !m_output_file.is_true("xml_change_format")) {
+        warning("Output format chosen is not the XML change format. Use .osc(.gz|bz2) as suffix or -f option.\n");
+    }
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     m_vout << "Opening input files...\n";
     osmium::io::Reader reader1{m_input_files[0], osmium::osm_entity_bits::object};
     osmium::io::ReaderWithProgressBar reader2{display_progress(), m_input_files[1], osmium::osm_entity_bits::object};
@@ -161,16 +167,9 @@ bool CommandDeriveChanges::run() {
     auto end1 = in1.end();
     auto end2 = in2.end();
 
-    reader2.progress_bar().remove();
-    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
-    if (m_output_file.format() != osmium::io::file_format::xml || !m_output_file.is_true("xml_change_format")) {
-        warning("Output format chosen is not the XML change format. Use .osc(.gz|bz2) as suffix or -f option.\n");
-    }
-
     osmium::io::Header header;
     setup_header(header);
-
-    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
     reader2.progress_bar().remove();
     m_vout << "Deriving changes...\n";
diff --git a/src/command_getid.cpp b/src/command_getid.cpp
index e651bb7..2faec61 100644
--- a/src/command_getid.cpp
+++ b/src/command_getid.cpp
@@ -333,6 +333,9 @@ void CommandGetId::find_referenced_objects() {
 }
 
 bool CommandGetId::run() {
+    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     if (m_add_referenced_objects) {
         find_referenced_objects();
     }
@@ -340,11 +343,9 @@ bool CommandGetId::run() {
     m_vout << "Opening input file...\n";
     osmium::io::Reader reader{m_input_file, get_needed_types()};
 
-    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
     osmium::io::Header header{reader.header()};
     setup_header(header);
-
-    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
     m_vout << "Copying matching objects to output file...\n";
     osmium::ProgressBar progress_bar{reader.file_size(), display_progress()};
diff --git a/src/command_sort.cpp b/src/command_sort.cpp
index e2ac84d..8ff3dc4 100644
--- a/src/command_sort.cpp
+++ b/src/command_sort.cpp
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@ void CommandSort::show_arguments() {
 }
 
 bool CommandSort::run_single_pass() {
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     std::vector<osmium::memory::Buffer> data;
     osmium::ObjectPointerCollection objects;
 
@@ -149,8 +151,7 @@ bool CommandSort::run_single_pass() {
     if (bounding_box) {
         header.add_box(bounding_box);
     }
-
-    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
     m_vout << "Sorting data...\n";
     objects.sort(osmium::object_order_type_id_version());
@@ -169,6 +170,8 @@ bool CommandSort::run_single_pass() {
 }
 
 bool CommandSort::run_multi_pass() {
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+
     osmium::Box bounding_box;
 
     m_vout << "Reading input file headers...\n";
@@ -185,8 +188,7 @@ bool CommandSort::run_multi_pass() {
     if (bounding_box) {
         header.add_box(bounding_box);
     }
-
-    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
     osmium::ProgressBar progress_bar{file_size_sum(m_input_files) * 3, display_progress()};
 
diff --git a/src/command_tags_filter.cpp b/src/command_tags_filter.cpp
index 3d6368b..27b7311 100644
--- a/src/command_tags_filter.cpp
+++ b/src/command_tags_filter.cpp
@@ -363,44 +363,29 @@ void CommandTagsFilter::copy_matching_objects(osmium::io::Reader& reader, osmium
         }
     }
     progress_bar.done();
-
-    m_vout << "Closing output file...\n";
-    writer.close();
-
-    m_vout << "Closing input file...\n";
-    reader.close();
 }
 
 bool CommandTagsFilter::run() {
-    if (m_add_referenced_objects) {
-        m_vout << "Opening input file to get header...\n";
-        osmium::io::Reader reader_only_for_header{m_input_file, osmium::osm_entity_bits::nothing};
-
-        m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
-        osmium::io::Header header{reader_only_for_header.header()};
-        setup_header(header);
-        reader_only_for_header.close();
-
-        osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
+    osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
 
+    if (m_add_referenced_objects) {
         find_referenced_objects();
+    }
 
-        m_vout << "Opening input file...\n";
-        osmium::io::Reader reader{m_input_file, get_needed_types()};
-
-        copy_matching_objects(reader, writer);
-    } else {
-        m_vout << "Opening input file...\n";
-        osmium::io::Reader reader{m_input_file, get_needed_types()};
+    m_vout << "Opening input file...\n";
+    osmium::io::Reader reader{m_input_file, get_needed_types()};
+    osmium::io::Header header{reader.header()};
+    setup_header(header);
+    writer.set_header(header);
 
-        m_vout << "Opening output file...\n";
-        osmium::io::Header header{reader.header()};
-        setup_header(header);
+    copy_matching_objects(reader, writer);
 
-        osmium::io::Writer writer{m_output_file, header, m_output_overwrite, m_fsync};
+    m_vout << "Closing output file...\n";
+    writer.close();
 
-        copy_matching_objects(reader, writer);
-    }
+    m_vout << "Closing input file...\n";
+    reader.close();
 
     show_memory_used();