diff --git a/src/write.jl b/src/write.jl
index 78d6d275..3d567c4b 100644
--- a/src/write.jl
+++ b/src/write.jl
@@ -8,7 +8,14 @@ Keyword arguments are passed to the `write` method for the backend.
 function Base.write(
     filename::AbstractString, A::AbstractRaster; source=_sourcetype(filename), kw...
 )
-    write(filename, source, A; kw...)
+    try
+        write(filename, source, A; kw...)
+    catch e
+        if isfile(filename)
+            rm(filename)
+        end
+        rethrow(e)
+    end
 end
 Base.write(A::AbstractRaster; kw...) = write(filename(A), A; kw...)
 function Base.write(
diff --git a/test/sources/ncdatasets.jl b/test/sources/ncdatasets.jl
index ea2b73d6..18d45ac4 100644
--- a/test/sources/ncdatasets.jl
+++ b/test/sources/ncdatasets.jl
@@ -289,6 +289,16 @@ end
             @test size2 > size1*1.8 # two variable 
             isfile(fn) && rm(fn)
 
+            # test erroring doesn't write file
+            fn = "test_broken.nc"
+            try 
+                write(fn, r1; deflatelevel="a")
+            catch e
+            end
+            @test !isfile(fn)
+            isfile(fn) && rm(fn)
+            
+
             @testset "non allowed values" begin
                 # TODO return this test when the changes in NCDatasets.jl settle
                 # @test_throws ArgumentError write(filename, convert.(Union{Missing,Float16}, geoA))