diff --git a/src/emucore/OSystem.cxx b/src/emucore/OSystem.cxx
index 8db2d6ac8..07aa54b50 100644
--- a/src/emucore/OSystem.cxx
+++ b/src/emucore/OSystem.cxx
@@ -203,11 +203,8 @@ void OSystem::saveConfig()
   logMessage("Saving config options ...", 2);
   mySettings->save(configFile());
 
-  if(myPropSet)
-  {
+  if(myPropSet && myPropSet->save(myPropertiesFile))
     logMessage("Saving properties set ...", 2);
-    myPropSet->save(myPropertiesFile);
-  }
 }
 
 // - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
diff --git a/src/emucore/PropsSet.cxx b/src/emucore/PropsSet.cxx
index 1479c9b5b..0ab255043 100644
--- a/src/emucore/PropsSet.cxx
+++ b/src/emucore/PropsSet.cxx
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ void PropertiesSet::load(const string& filename)
 // - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 bool PropertiesSet::save(const string& filename) const
 {
+  // Only save properties when it won't create an empty file
+  FilesystemNode props(filename);
+  if(!props.exists() && myExternalProps.size() == 0)
+    return false;
+
   ofstream out(filename);
   if(!out)
     return false;
diff --git a/src/emucore/PropsSet.hxx b/src/emucore/PropsSet.hxx
index 224d2bfc8..4d5f2ee37 100644
--- a/src/emucore/PropsSet.hxx
+++ b/src/emucore/PropsSet.hxx
@@ -58,8 +58,10 @@ class PropertiesSet
 
       @param filename  Full pathname of output file to use
 
-      @return  True on success, false on failure
-               Failure occurs if file couldn't be opened for writing
+      @return  True on success, false on failure or save not needed
+               Failure occurs if file couldn't be opened for writing,
+               or if the file doesn't exist and a zero-byte file
+               would be created
     */
     bool save(const string& filename) const;