diff --git a/mltb2/files.py b/mltb2/files.py
index fbfa77f..22e628a 100644
--- a/mltb2/files.py
+++ b/mltb2/files.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 """
 
 
+import contextlib
 import os
 from typing import Optional
 
@@ -45,5 +46,10 @@ def fetch_remote_file(dirname, filename, url, sha256_checksum) -> str:
         IOError: if the sha256 checksum is wrong
     """
     remote = RemoteFileMetadata(filename=filename, url=url, checksum=sha256_checksum)
-    fetch_remote_file_path = _fetch_remote(remote, dirname=dirname)
+    try:
+        fetch_remote_file_path = _fetch_remote(remote, dirname=dirname)
+    except Exception:
+        with contextlib.suppress(FileNotFoundError):
+            os.remove(os.path.join(dirname, filename))
+        raise
     return fetch_remote_file_path
diff --git a/tests/test_files.py b/tests/test_files.py
index b7bbe61..25fe578 100644
--- a/tests/test_files.py
+++ b/tests/test_files.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ def test_fetch_remote_file(tmpdir):
         sha256_checksum="8d834de97b095fbf4bf6075743827862be2c6c404594ae04606d9c56d8f1017b",
     )
     assert remote_file == os.path.join(tmpdir, filename)
+    assert os.path.exists(os.path.join(tmpdir, filename))
 
 
 def test_fetch_remote_file_wrong_checksum(tmpdir):
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ def test_fetch_remote_file_wrong_checksum(tmpdir):
             url="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/telekom/mltb2/main/LICENSE",
             sha256_checksum="wrong",
         )
+    assert not os.path.exists(os.path.join(tmpdir, filename))
 
 
 def test_get_and_create_mltb2_data_dir(tmpdir):