diff --git a/include/memory.h b/include/memory.h
index 92252d3db..465d7e265 100644
--- a/include/memory.h
+++ b/include/memory.h
@@ -18,4 +18,7 @@ void *hcrealloc (void *ptr, const size_t oldsz, const size_t addsz);
 char *hcstrdup  (const char *s);
 void  hcfree    (void *ptr);
 
+void *hcmalloc_aligned (const size_t sz, const int align);
+void  hcfree_aligned   (void *ptr);
+
 #endif // HC_MEMORY_H
diff --git a/src/memory.c b/src/memory.c
index 86fe44f6d..c8a18baba 100644
--- a/src/memory.c
+++ b/src/memory.c
@@ -66,3 +66,26 @@ void hcfree (void *ptr)
 
   free (ptr);
 }
+
+void *hcmalloc_aligned (const size_t sz, const int align)
+{
+  // store the original allocated address so we can later use it to free the memory
+  // this is convinient to use because we don't need to store two memory addresses
+
+  const int align1 = align - 1;
+
+  void *ptr1 = hcmalloc (sz + sizeof (void *) + align1);
+
+  void *ptr2 = (void **) ((uintptr_t) (ptr1 + sizeof (void *) + align1) & ~align1);
+
+  ((void **) ptr2)[-1] = ptr1;
+
+  return ptr2;
+}
+
+void hcfree_aligned (void *ptr)
+{
+  if (ptr == NULL) return;
+
+  free (((void **) ptr)[-1]);
+}