diff --git a/src/sdl2/surface.rs b/src/sdl2/surface.rs
index ac78cd60..218e9989 100644
--- a/src/sdl2/surface.rs
+++ b/src/sdl2/surface.rs
@@ -173,10 +173,12 @@ impl Surface {
         else { Ok(~Surface{raw: raw, owned: true}) }
     }
 
-    pub fn save_bmp(&self, path: &Path) -> bool {
-	unsafe {
-            ll::SDL_SaveBMP_RW(self.raw, try!(rwops::RWops::from_file(path, "rb")).raw, 0) == 0
-	}
+    pub fn save_bmp(&self, path: &Path) -> Result<(), ~str> {
+	let ret = unsafe {
+            ll::SDL_SaveBMP_RW(self.raw, try!(rwops::RWops::from_file(path, "rb")).raw, 0)
+	};
+        if ret == 0 { Ok(()) }
+        else { Err(get_error()) }
     }
 
     pub fn set_palette(&self, palette: &pixels::Palette) -> bool {