diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/qa/microsoft-azure-storage/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageTestServer.java b/plugins/repository-azure/qa/microsoft-azure-storage/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageTestServer.java
index b1450b79fabe8..8183ee5043ec8 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/qa/microsoft-azure-storage/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageTestServer.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/qa/microsoft-azure-storage/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageTestServer.java
@@ -164,7 +164,12 @@ private static PathTrie<RequestHandler> defaultHandlers(final String endpoint, f
                 if (destContainer == null) {
                     return newContainerNotFoundError(requestId);
                 }
-                destContainer.objects.put(destBlobName, body);
+
+                byte[] existingBytes = destContainer.objects.putIfAbsent(destBlobName, body);
+                if (existingBytes != null) {
+                    return newBlobAlreadyExistsError(requestId);
+                }
+
                 return new Response(RestStatus.CREATED, emptyMap(), "text/plain", EMPTY_BYTE);
             })
         );
@@ -363,6 +368,10 @@ private static Response newBlobNotFoundError(final long requestId) {
         return newError(requestId, RestStatus.NOT_FOUND, "BlobNotFound", "The specified blob does not exist");
     }
 
+    private static Response newBlobAlreadyExistsError(final long requestId) {
+        return newError(requestId, RestStatus.CONFLICT, "BlobAlreadyExists", "The specified blob already exists");
+    }
+
     private static Response newInternalError(final long requestId) {
         return newError(requestId, RestStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "InternalError", "The server encountered an internal error");
     }
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobContainer.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobContainer.java
index dd85bfc218159..f5a0ed253c8e9 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobContainer.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobContainer.java
@@ -88,10 +88,8 @@ public InputStream readBlob(String blobName) throws IOException {
 
     @Override
     public void writeBlob(String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize) throws IOException {
-        if (blobExists(blobName)) {
-            throw new FileAlreadyExistsException("blob [" + blobName + "] already exists, cannot overwrite");
-        }
         logger.trace("writeBlob({}, stream, {})", buildKey(blobName), blobSize);
+
         try {
             blobStore.writeBlob(buildKey(blobName), inputStream, blobSize);
         } catch (URISyntaxException|StorageException e) {
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobStore.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobStore.java
index fede20bfb764e..fc6d9d7e482a8 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobStore.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureBlobStore.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.file.FileAlreadyExistsException;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -114,7 +115,8 @@ public Map<String, BlobMetaData> listBlobsByPrefix(String keyPath, String prefix
         return this.client.listBlobsByPrefix(this.clientName, this.locMode, container, keyPath, prefix);
     }
 
-    public void writeBlob(String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize) throws URISyntaxException, StorageException {
+    public void writeBlob(String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize) throws URISyntaxException, StorageException,
+        FileAlreadyExistsException {
         this.client.writeBlob(this.clientName, this.locMode, container, blobName, inputStream, blobSize);
     }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageService.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageService.java
index 8cd3835e3e689..1c2ca71fe7887 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageService.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageService.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.file.FileAlreadyExistsException;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ Map<String,BlobMetaData> listBlobsByPrefix(String account, LocationMode mode, St
         throws URISyntaxException, StorageException;
 
     void writeBlob(String account, LocationMode mode, String container, String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize) throws
-        URISyntaxException, StorageException;
+        URISyntaxException, StorageException, FileAlreadyExistsException;
 
     static InputStream giveSocketPermissionsToStream(InputStream stream) {
         return new InputStream() {
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceImpl.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceImpl.java
index 339aec43c251a..9f059eaca11c6 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceImpl.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceImpl.java
@@ -19,11 +19,13 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.repositories.azure;
 
+import com.microsoft.azure.storage.AccessCondition;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.CloudStorageAccount;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.LocationMode;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.OperationContext;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.RetryExponentialRetry;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.RetryPolicy;
+import com.microsoft.azure.storage.StorageErrorCodeStrings;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.StorageException;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.blob.BlobInputStream;
 import com.microsoft.azure.storage.blob.BlobListingDetails;
@@ -44,8 +46,10 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoryException;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.file.FileAlreadyExistsException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -289,12 +293,21 @@ enumBlobListingDetails, null, generateOperationContext(account))) {
 
     @Override
     public void writeBlob(String account, LocationMode mode, String container, String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize)
-        throws URISyntaxException, StorageException {
+        throws URISyntaxException, StorageException, FileAlreadyExistsException {
         logger.trace("writeBlob({}, stream, {})", blobName, blobSize);
         CloudBlobClient client = this.getSelectedClient(account, mode);
         CloudBlobContainer blobContainer = client.getContainerReference(container);
         CloudBlockBlob blob = blobContainer.getBlockBlobReference(blobName);
-        SocketAccess.doPrivilegedVoidException(() -> blob.upload(inputStream, blobSize, null, null, generateOperationContext(account)));
+        try {
+            SocketAccess.doPrivilegedVoidException(() -> blob.upload(inputStream, blobSize, AccessCondition.generateIfNotExistsCondition(),
+                null, generateOperationContext(account)));
+        } catch (StorageException se) {
+            if (se.getHttpStatusCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_CONFLICT &&
+                StorageErrorCodeStrings.BLOB_ALREADY_EXISTS.equals(se.getErrorCode())) {
+                throw new FileAlreadyExistsException(blobName, null, se.getMessage());
+            }
+            throw se;
+        }
         logger.trace("writeBlob({}, stream, {}) - done", blobName, blobSize);
     }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceMock.java b/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceMock.java
index 0e0f73446ba4b..4b111e549476c 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceMock.java
+++ b/plugins/repository-azure/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/azure/AzureStorageServiceMock.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.SocketPermission;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.file.FileAlreadyExistsException;
 import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
 import java.security.AccessController;
 import java.util.Locale;
@@ -108,7 +109,10 @@ public Map<String, BlobMetaData> listBlobsByPrefix(String account, LocationMode
 
     @Override
     public void writeBlob(String account, LocationMode mode, String container, String blobName, InputStream inputStream, long blobSize)
-        throws URISyntaxException, StorageException {
+        throws URISyntaxException, StorageException, FileAlreadyExistsException {
+        if (blobs.containsKey(blobName)) {
+            throw new FileAlreadyExistsException(blobName);
+        }
         try (ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream()) {
             blobs.put(blobName, outputStream);
             Streams.copy(inputStream, outputStream);