diff --git a/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py b/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
index ad36f39..ef6cbdf 100644
--- a/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
+++ b/IPython/html/services/contents/filemanager.py
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ class FileContentsManager(ContentsManager):
                 bcontent = base64.decodestring(b64_bytes)
         except Exception as e:
             raise web.HTTPError(400, u'Encoding error saving %s: %s' % (os_path, e))
-        with atomic_writing(os_path, 'wb') as f:
+        with atomic_writing(os_path, text=False) as f:
             f.write(bcontent)
 
     def _save_directory(self, os_path, model, name='', path=''):
diff --git a/IPython/utils/io.py b/IPython/utils/io.py
index 4f624ff..129c2b8 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/io.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/io.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 import codecs
 from contextlib import contextmanager
+import io
 import os
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -219,21 +220,55 @@ def temp_pyfile(src, ext='.py'):
     return fname, f
 
 @contextmanager
-def atomic_writing(path, mode='w', encoding='utf-8', **kwargs):
-    tmp_file = path + '.tmp-write'
-    if 'b' in mode:
-        encoding = None
-
-    with open(tmp_file, mode, encoding=encoding, **kwargs) as f:
-        yield f
-
-    # Written successfully, now rename it
+def atomic_writing(path, text=True, encoding='utf-8', **kwargs):
+    """Context manager to write to a file only if the entire write is successful.
+    
+    This works by creating a temporary file in the same directory, and renaming
+    it over the old file if the context is exited without an error. If the
+    target file is a symlink or a hardlink, this will not be preserved: it will
+    be replaced by a new regular file.
+    
+    On Windows, there is a small chink in the atomicity: the target file is
+    deleted before renaming the temporary file over it. This appears to be
+    unavoidable.
+    
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    path : str
+      The target file to write to.
+     
+    text : bool, optional
+      Whether to open the file in text mode (i.e. to write unicode). Default is
+      True.
+    
+    encoding : str, optional
+      The encoding to use for files opened in text mode. Default is UTF-8.
+     
+    **kwargs
+      Passed to :func:`io.open`.
+    """
+    dirname, basename = os.path.split(path)
+    handle, tmp_path = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix=basename, dir=dirname, text=text)
+    if text:
+        fileobj = io.open(handle, 'w', encoding=encoding, **kwargs)
+    else:
+        fileobj = io.open(handle, 'wb', **kwargs)
+
+    try:
+        yield fileobj
+    except:
+        fileobj.close()
+        os.remove(tmp_path)
+        raise
+    else:
+        # Written successfully, now rename it
+        fileobj.close()
 
-    if os.name == 'nt' and os.path.exists(path):
-        # Rename over existing file doesn't work on Windows
-        os.remove(path)
+        if os.name == 'nt' and os.path.exists(path):
+            # Rename over existing file doesn't work on Windows
+            os.remove(path)
 
-    os.rename(tmp_file, path)
+        os.rename(tmp_path, path)
 
 
 def raw_print(*args, **kw):
diff --git a/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py b/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
index 9f28ba2..bf4ed7d 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from __future__ import print_function
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import io as stdlib_io
+import os.path
 import sys
 
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
@@ -23,8 +24,11 @@ import unittest
 import nose.tools as nt
 
 from IPython.testing.decorators import skipif
-from IPython.utils.io import Tee, capture_output, unicode_std_stream
+from IPython.utils.io import (Tee, capture_output, unicode_std_stream,
+                              atomic_writing,
+                              )
 from IPython.utils.py3compat import doctest_refactor_print, PY3
+from IPython.utils.tempdir import TemporaryDirectory
 
 if PY3:
     from io import StringIO
@@ -121,4 +125,27 @@ def test_UnicodeStdStream_nowrap():
         nt.assert_is(unicode_std_stream(), sys.stdout)
         assert not sys.stdout.closed
     finally:
-        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
\ No newline at end of file
+        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
+
+def test_atomic_writing():
+    class CustomExc(Exception): pass
+
+    with TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+        f1 = os.path.join(td, 'penguin')
+        with stdlib_io.open(f1, 'w') as f:
+            f.write(u'Before')
+
+        with nt.assert_raises(CustomExc):
+            with atomic_writing(f1) as f:
+                f.write(u'Failing write')
+                raise CustomExc
+
+        # Because of the exception, the file should not have been modified
+        with stdlib_io.open(f1, 'r') as f:
+            nt.assert_equal(f.read(), u'Before')
+
+        with atomic_writing(f1) as f:
+            f.write(u'Overwritten')
+
+        with stdlib_io.open(f1, 'r') as f:
+            nt.assert_equal(f.read(), u'Overwritten')