diff --git a/dspy/primitives/base_module.py b/dspy/primitives/base_module.py
index a583368467..f11ccaa801 100644
--- a/dspy/primitives/base_module.py
+++ b/dspy/primitives/base_module.py
@@ -230,8 +230,9 @@ def save(self, path, save_program=False, modules_to_serialize=None):
             state = self.dump_state()
             state["metadata"] = metadata
             try:
+                serialized_state = orjson.dumps(state, option=orjson.OPT_INDENT_2 | orjson.OPT_APPEND_NEWLINE)
                 with open(path, "wb") as f:
-                    f.write(orjson.dumps(state, option=orjson.OPT_INDENT_2 | orjson.OPT_APPEND_NEWLINE))
+                    f.write(serialized_state)
             except Exception as e:
                 raise RuntimeError(
                     f"Failed to save state to {path} with error: {e}. Your DSPy program may contain non "
diff --git a/tests/primitives/test_module.py b/tests/primitives/test_module.py
index 0545a50184..2ba4e62735 100644
--- a/tests/primitives/test_module.py
+++ b/tests/primitives/test_module.py
@@ -26,6 +26,28 @@ def test_module_initialization():
     assert module._compiled is False, "Module _compiled attribute should be False upon initialization"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("existing", [False, True])
+def test_json_save_serialization_failure_preserves_checkpoint(tmp_path, existing):
+    program = dspy.Predict("question -> answer")
+    path = tmp_path / "checkpoint.json"
+    previous = None
+    if existing:
+        program.save(path)
+        previous = path.read_bytes()
+
+    program.traces.append({"unserializable": object()})
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Failed to save state"):
+        program.save(path)
+
+    if existing:
+        assert path.read_bytes() == previous
+        restored = dspy.Predict("question -> answer")
+        restored.load(path)
+        assert restored.traces == []
+    else:
+        assert not path.exists()
+
+
 def test_named_predictors():
     module = HopModule()
     named_preds = module.named_predictors()