diff --git a/osu.Game/Beatmaps/BeatmapModelManager.cs b/osu.Game/Beatmaps/BeatmapModelManager.cs
index 2ab5ac1db9..327e10e643 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Beatmaps/BeatmapModelManager.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Beatmaps/BeatmapModelManager.cs
@@ -71,6 +71,12 @@ namespace osu.Game.Beatmaps
 
                 // AddFile generally handles updating/replacing files, but this is a case where the filename may have also changed so let's delete for simplicity.
                 var existingFileInfo = setInfo.Files.SingleOrDefault(f => string.Equals(f.Filename, beatmapInfo.Path, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
+                string targetFilename = getFilename(beatmapInfo);
+
+                // ensure that two difficulties from the set don't point at the same beatmap file.
+                if (setInfo.Beatmaps.Any(b => string.Equals(b.Path, targetFilename, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)))
+                    throw new InvalidOperationException($"{setInfo.GetDisplayString()} already has a difficulty with the name of '{beatmapInfo.DifficultyName}'.");
+
                 if (existingFileInfo != null)
                     DeleteFile(setInfo, existingFileInfo);
 
diff --git a/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/Editor.cs b/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/Editor.cs
index 3d7677ce19..64b23ccda8 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/Editor.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/Editor.cs
@@ -386,12 +386,20 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Edit
                 return;
             }
 
+            try
+            {
+                // save the loaded beatmap's data stream.
+                beatmapManager.Save(editorBeatmap.BeatmapInfo, editorBeatmap.PlayableBeatmap, editorBeatmap.BeatmapSkin);
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                // can fail e.g. due to duplicated difficulty names.
+                Logger.Error(ex, ex.Message);
+                return;
+            }
+
             // no longer new after first user-triggered save.
             isNewBeatmap = false;
-
-            // save the loaded beatmap's data stream.
-            beatmapManager.Save(editorBeatmap.BeatmapInfo, editorBeatmap.PlayableBeatmap, editorBeatmap.BeatmapSkin);
-
             updateLastSavedHash();
         }
 
diff --git a/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/EditorLoader.cs b/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/EditorLoader.cs
index 731bc75b52..de47411fdc 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/EditorLoader.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Screens/Edit/EditorLoader.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ using JetBrains.Annotations;
 using osu.Framework.Allocation;
 using osu.Framework.Graphics;
 using osu.Framework.Graphics.Containers;
+using osu.Framework.Logging;
 using osu.Framework.Screens;
 using osu.Framework.Threading;
 using osu.Game.Beatmaps;
@@ -80,7 +81,20 @@ namespace osu.Game.Screens.Edit
         }
 
         public void ScheduleSwitchToNewDifficulty(BeatmapSetInfo beatmapSetInfo, RulesetInfo rulesetInfo, EditorState editorState)
-            => scheduleDifficultySwitch(() => beatmapManager.CreateNewBlankDifficulty(beatmapSetInfo, rulesetInfo), editorState);
+            => scheduleDifficultySwitch(() =>
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    return beatmapManager.CreateNewBlankDifficulty(beatmapSetInfo, rulesetInfo);
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    // if the beatmap creation fails (e.g. due to duplicated difficulty names),
+                    // bring the user back to the previous beatmap as a best-effort.
+                    Logger.Error(ex, ex.Message);
+                    return Beatmap.Value;
+                }
+            }, editorState);
 
         public void ScheduleSwitchToExistingDifficulty(BeatmapInfo beatmapInfo, EditorState editorState)
             => scheduleDifficultySwitch(() => beatmapManager.GetWorkingBeatmap(beatmapInfo), editorState);