diff --git a/picard/formats/vorbis.py b/picard/formats/vorbis.py
index 1a7965c65..db9feeec2 100644
--- a/picard/formats/vorbis.py
+++ b/picard/formats/vorbis.py
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ class VCommentFile(File):
                             existing_tags.remove(item)
                     tags[real_name] = existing_tags
                 else:
-                    if tag in ('totaldiscs', 'totaltracks'):
+                    if tag in ('totaldiscs', 'totaltracks') and tag in tags:
                         # both tag and real_name are to be deleted in this case
                         del tags[tag]
                     del tags[real_name]
diff --git a/test/formats/test_vorbis.py b/test/formats/test_vorbis.py
index 9809e4e55..e37f0af34 100644
--- a/test/formats/test_vorbis.py
+++ b/test/formats/test_vorbis.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #
 # Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2019 Philipp Wolfer
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 Philipp Wolfer
 # Copyright (C) 2020 Laurent Monin
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -156,6 +156,24 @@ class CommonVorbisTests:
             self.assertTrue(self.format.supports_tag('lyrics:foó'))
             self.assertTrue(self.format.supports_tag('comment:foó'))
 
+        @skipUnlessTestfile
+        def test_delete_totaldiscs_totaltracks(self):
+            # Create a test file that contains only disctotal / tracktotal,
+            # but not totaldiscs and totaltracks
+            save_raw(self.filename, {
+                'disctotal': '3',
+                'tracktotal': '2',
+            })
+            metadata = Metadata()
+            del metadata['totaldiscs']
+            del metadata['totaltracks']
+            save_metadata(self.filename, metadata)
+            loaded_metadata = load_raw(self.filename)
+            self.assertNotIn('disctotal', loaded_metadata)
+            self.assertNotIn('totaldiscs', loaded_metadata)
+            self.assertNotIn('tracktotal', loaded_metadata)
+            self.assertNotIn('totaltracks', loaded_metadata)
+
 
 class FLACTest(CommonVorbisTests.VorbisTestCase):
     testfile = 'test.flac'