diff --git a/src/filesystem.cpp b/src/filesystem.cpp
index bf87767f0ac0..3f6bd19bd79f 100644
--- a/src/filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/filesystem.cpp
@@ -346,6 +346,15 @@ bool delete_directory(const std::string& path, const bool keep_pbl)
 	}
 	return ret;
 }
+bool delete_file(const std::string& path)
+{
+	bool ret = true;
+	if(remove(path.c_str()) != 0 && errno != ENOENT) {
+		ERR_FS << "remove(" << path << "): " << strerror(errno) << "\n";
+		ret = false;
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
 
 std::string get_cwd()
 {
diff --git a/src/filesystem.hpp b/src/filesystem.hpp
index 1fe0cd1fc1d9..038dd003df27 100644
--- a/src/filesystem.hpp
+++ b/src/filesystem.hpp
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ std::string get_exe_dir();
 
 bool make_directory(const std::string& dirname);
 bool delete_directory(const std::string& dirname, const bool keep_pbl = false);
+bool delete_file(const std::string &filename);
 
 bool looks_like_pbl(const std::string& file);
 
diff --git a/src/filesystem_boost.cpp b/src/filesystem_boost.cpp
index 1ebbae0bc9a9..3b7c7c65ddeb 100644
--- a/src/filesystem_boost.cpp
+++ b/src/filesystem_boost.cpp
@@ -553,6 +553,16 @@ bool delete_directory(const std::string& dirname, const bool keep_pbl)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+bool delete_file(const std::string &filename)
+{
+	error_code ec;
+	bool ret = bfs::remove(path(filename), ec);
+	if (ec) {
+		ERR_FS << "Could not delete file " << filename << ": " << ec.message() << '\n';
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+
 std::string read_file(const std::string &fname)
 {
 	scoped_istream is = istream_file(fname);