diff --git a/player/screenshot.c b/player/screenshot.c
index f537fc4604..aa637e6e63 100644
--- a/player/screenshot.c
+++ b/player/screenshot.c
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ static char *stripext(void *talloc_ctx, const char *s)
 }
 
 static bool write_screenshot(struct mp_cmd_ctx *cmd, struct mp_image *img,
-                             const char *filename, struct image_writer_opts *opts)
+                             const char *filename, struct image_writer_opts *opts,
+                             bool overwrite)
 {
     struct MPContext *mpctx = cmd->mpctx;
     struct image_writer_opts *gopts = mpctx->opts->screenshot_image_opts;
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ static bool write_screenshot(struct mp_cmd_ctx *cmd, struct mp_image *img,
     mp_core_unlock(mpctx);
 
     bool ok = img && write_image(img, &opts_copy, filename, mpctx->global,
-                                 mpctx->screenshot_ctx->log);
+                                 mpctx->screenshot_ctx->log, overwrite);
 
     mp_core_lock(mpctx);
 
@@ -496,7 +497,7 @@ void cmd_screenshot_to_file(void *p)
         cmd->success = false;
         return;
     }
-    cmd->success = write_screenshot(cmd, image, filename, &opts);
+    cmd->success = write_screenshot(cmd, image, filename, &opts, true);
     talloc_free(image);
 }
 
@@ -537,7 +538,7 @@ void cmd_screenshot(void *p)
     if (image) {
         char *filename = gen_fname(cmd, image_writer_file_ext(opts));
         if (filename) {
-            cmd->success = write_screenshot(cmd, image, filename, NULL);
+            cmd->success = write_screenshot(cmd, image, filename, NULL, false);
             if (cmd->success) {
                 node_init(res, MPV_FORMAT_NODE_MAP, NULL);
                 node_map_add_string(res, "filename", filename);
diff --git a/test/scale_test.c b/test/scale_test.c
index fa7886de48..8d8f63f0ee 100644
--- a/test/scale_test.c
+++ b/test/scale_test.c
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ static void dump_image(struct scale_test *stest, const char *name,
     struct image_writer_opts opts = image_writer_opts_defaults;
     opts.format = AV_CODEC_ID_PNG;
 
-    if (!write_image(img, &opts, path, NULL, NULL)) {
+    if (!write_image(img, &opts, path, NULL, NULL, true)) {
         printf("Failed to write '%s'.\n", path);
         abort();
     }
diff --git a/video/image_writer.c b/video/image_writer.c
index 62dd34f288..c3cf930401 100644
--- a/video/image_writer.c
+++ b/video/image_writer.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include "osdep/io.h"
+#include "misc/path_utils.h"
 
 #include "common/av_common.h"
 #include "common/msg.h"
@@ -162,9 +163,14 @@ static void prepare_avframe(AVFrame *pic, AVCodecContext *avctx,
     );
 }
 
-static bool write_lavc(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, mp_image_t *image, const char *filename)
+static bool write_lavc(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, mp_image_t *image,
+                       const char *filename, bool overwrite)
 {
-    FILE *fp = fopen(filename, "wb");
+    FILE *fp = fopen(filename, overwrite ? "wb" : "wbx");
+    if (!fp && errno == EEXIST) {
+        MP_ERR(ctx, "File '%s' already exists!\n", filename);
+        return false;
+    }
     if (!fp) {
         MP_ERR(ctx, "Error opening '%s' for writing!\n", filename);
         return false;
@@ -277,9 +283,13 @@ static void write_jpeg_error_exit(j_common_ptr cinfo)
 }
 
 static bool write_jpeg(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, mp_image_t *image,
-                       const char *filename)
+                       const char *filename, bool overwrite)
 {
-    FILE *fp = fopen(filename, "wb");
+    FILE *fp = fopen(filename, overwrite ? "wb" : "wbx");
+    if (!fp && errno == EEXIST) {
+        MP_ERR(ctx, "File '%s' already exists!\n", filename);
+        return false;
+    }
     if (!fp) {
         MP_ERR(ctx, "Error opening '%s' for writing!\n", filename);
         return false;
@@ -361,7 +371,7 @@ static void log_side_data(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, AVPacketSideData *data,
 }
 
 static bool write_avif(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, mp_image_t *image,
-                       const char *filename)
+                       const char *filename, bool overwrite)
 {
     const AVCodec *codec = NULL;
     const AVOutputFormat *ofmt = NULL;
@@ -429,6 +439,11 @@ static bool write_avif(struct image_writer_ctx *ctx, mp_image_t *image,
         goto free_data;
     }
 
+    if (!overwrite && mp_path_exists(filename)) {
+        MP_ERR(ctx, "File '%s' already exists\n", filename);
+        goto free_data;
+    }
+
     ret = avio_open(&avioctx, filename, AVIO_FLAG_WRITE);
     if (ret < 0) {
         MP_ERR(ctx, "Could not open file '%s' for saving images\n", filename);
@@ -705,7 +720,7 @@ static struct mp_image *convert_image(struct mp_image *image, int destfmt,
 
 bool write_image(struct mp_image *image, const struct image_writer_opts *opts,
                  const char *filename, struct mpv_global *global,
-                 struct mp_log *log)
+                 struct mp_log *log, bool overwrite)
 {
     struct image_writer_opts defs = image_writer_opts_defaults;
     if (!opts)
@@ -714,7 +729,7 @@ bool write_image(struct mp_image *image, const struct image_writer_opts *opts,
     mp_verbose(log, "input: %s\n", mp_image_params_to_str(&image->params));
 
     struct image_writer_ctx ctx = { log, opts, image->fmt };
-    bool (*write)(struct image_writer_ctx *, mp_image_t *, const char *) = write_lavc;
+    bool (*write)(struct image_writer_ctx *, mp_image_t *, const char *, bool) = write_lavc;
     int destfmt = 0;
 
 #if HAVE_JPEG
@@ -751,7 +766,7 @@ bool write_image(struct mp_image *image, const struct image_writer_opts *opts,
     if (!dst)
         return false;
 
-    bool success = write(&ctx, dst, filename);
+    bool success = write(&ctx, dst, filename, overwrite);
     if (!success)
         mp_err(log, "Error writing file '%s'!\n", filename);
 
@@ -763,5 +778,5 @@ void dump_png(struct mp_image *image, const char *filename, struct mp_log *log)
 {
     struct image_writer_opts opts = image_writer_opts_defaults;
     opts.format = AV_CODEC_ID_PNG;
-    write_image(image, &opts, filename, NULL, log);
+    write_image(image, &opts, filename, NULL, log, true);
 }
diff --git a/video/image_writer.h b/video/image_writer.h
index 72d160269b..c22606ed65 100644
--- a/video/image_writer.h
+++ b/video/image_writer.h
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ int image_writer_format_from_ext(const char *ext);
  */
 bool write_image(struct mp_image *image, const struct image_writer_opts *opts,
                 const char *filename, struct mpv_global *global,
-                 struct mp_log *log);
+                 struct mp_log *log, bool overwrite);
 
 // Debugging helper.
 void dump_png(struct mp_image *image, const char *filename, struct mp_log *log);
diff --git a/video/out/vo_image.c b/video/out/vo_image.c
index cc48ab3404..84e164f6e5 100644
--- a/video/out/vo_image.c
+++ b/video/out/vo_image.c
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ static void flip_page(struct vo *vo)
         filename = mp_path_join(t, p->opts->outdir, filename);
 
     MP_INFO(vo, "Saving %s\n", filename);
-    write_image(p->current, p->opts->opts, filename, vo->global, vo->log);
+    write_image(p->current, p->opts->opts, filename, vo->global, vo->log, true);
 
     talloc_free(t);
 }