diff --git a/Modules/Core/Common/include/itkMetaProgrammingLibrary.h b/Modules/Core/Common/include/itkMetaProgrammingLibrary.h
index e09e41da721..a0aa76bb8e2 100644
--- a/Modules/Core/Common/include/itkMetaProgrammingLibrary.h
+++ b/Modules/Core/Common/include/itkMetaProgrammingLibrary.h
@@ -210,6 +210,23 @@ struct Not : NotC<TF::Value>
   using Type = typename NotC<TF::Value>::Type;
 };
 
+/** MPL type trait to check if type is a SmartPointer.
+ */
+template <typename T>
+struct IsSmartPointer : FalseType
+{};
+
+
+/// \cond SPECIALIZATION_IMPLEMENTATION
+template <typename T>
+struct IsSmartPointer<SmartPointer<T>> : TrueType
+{};
+
+template <typename T>
+struct IsSmartPointer<const SmartPointer<T>> : TrueType
+{};
+/// \endcond
+
 /** MPL relational type trait to check if a static_cast conversion
  * exists.
  *
diff --git a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/ITKKWStyleOverwrite.txt b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/ITKKWStyleOverwrite.txt
index dd8d28f1d38..755ab52cd8d 100644
--- a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/ITKKWStyleOverwrite.txt
+++ b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/ITKKWStyleOverwrite.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 itkConvertPixelBuffer\.hxx Namespace Disable
+test/itkWriteImageFunctionGTest.cxx Namespace Disable
diff --git a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/include/itkImageFileWriter.h b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/include/itkImageFileWriter.h
index 074527a2d7f..95b4dc28235 100644
--- a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/include/itkImageFileWriter.h
+++ b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/include/itkImageFileWriter.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "itkProcessObject.h"
 #include "itkImageIOBase.h"
 #include "itkMacro.h"
+#include "itkMetaProgrammingLibrary.h"
 
 namespace itk
 {
@@ -237,61 +238,27 @@ class ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT ImageFileWriter : public ProcessObject
 };
 
 
-/** Convenience function for writing an image. */
-template <typename TImage>
+/** Convenience function for writing an image.
+ *
+ * The image parameter may be a either SmartPointer or a raw pointer and const or non-const.
+ * */
+template <typename TImagePointer>
 ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(const TImage * image, const char * filename, bool compress = false)
+WriteImage(TImagePointer && image, const std::string & filename, bool compress = false)
 {
-  using WriterType = ImageFileWriter<TImage>;
-  typename WriterType::Pointer writer = WriterType::New();
+  using NonReferenceImagePointer = typename std::remove_reference<TImagePointer>::type;
+  static_assert(std::is_pointer<NonReferenceImagePointer>::value ||
+                  mpl::IsSmartPointer<NonReferenceImagePointer>::Value,
+                "WriteImage requires a raw pointer or SmartPointer.");
+
+  using ImageType = typename std::remove_const<typename std::remove_reference<decltype(*image)>::type>::type;
+  auto writer = ImageFileWriter<ImageType>::New();
   writer->SetInput(image);
   writer->SetFileName(filename);
   writer->SetUseCompression(compress);
   writer->Update();
 }
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(const SmartPointer<const TImage> image, const char * filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image.GetPointer(), filename, compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(TImage * image, const char * filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  const TImage * constImage = image;
-  WriteImage(constImage, filename, compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(SmartPointer<TImage> image, const char * filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image.GetPointer(), filename, compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(const TImage * image, const std::string & filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image, filename.c_str(), compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(const SmartPointer<const TImage> image, const std::string & filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image, filename.c_str(), compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(TImage * image, const std::string & filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image, filename.c_str(), compress);
-}
-template <typename TImage>
-ITK_TEMPLATE_EXPORT void
-WriteImage(SmartPointer<TImage> image, const std::string & filename, bool compress = false)
-{
-  WriteImage(image, filename.c_str(), compress);
-}
+
 } // end namespace itk
 
 #ifndef ITK_MANUAL_INSTANTIATION
diff --git a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/CMakeLists.txt b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/CMakeLists.txt
index ed4dbe3210c..409ebed394d 100644
--- a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -355,3 +355,11 @@ itk_add_test(NAME itkVectorImageReadWriteTest2
 add_executable(itkUnicodeIOTest itkUnicodeIOTest.cxx)
 itk_module_target_label(itkUnicodeIOTest)
 itk_add_test(NAME itkUnicodeIOTest COMMAND itkUnicodeIOTest)
+
+
+set(ITKIOImageBaseGTests
+        itkWriteImageFunctionGTest.cxx
+        )
+CreateGoogleTestDriver(ITKIOImageBase  "${ITKIOImageBase-Test_LIBRARIES}" "${ITKIOImageBaseGTests}")
+
+target_compile_definitions(ITKIOImageBaseGTestDriver PRIVATE "-DITK_TEST_OUTPUT_DIR=${ITK_TEST_OUTPUT_DIR}")
diff --git a/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/itkWriteImageFunctionGTest.cxx b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/itkWriteImageFunctionGTest.cxx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c93092c4df6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Modules/IO/ImageBase/test/itkWriteImageFunctionGTest.cxx
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*=========================================================================
+ *
+ *  Copyright NumFOCUS
+ *
+ *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ *
+ *=========================================================================*/
+#include "itkImageFileWriter.h"
+#include "itkImage.h"
+
+#include "itkGTest.h"
+#include "itksys/SystemTools.hxx"
+#include "itkTestDriverIncludeRequiredIOFactories.h"
+
+#define STRING(s) #s
+
+namespace
+{
+
+struct ITKWriteImageFunctionTest : public ::testing::Test
+{
+  void
+  SetUp() override
+  {
+    RegisterRequiredFactories();
+    itksys::SystemTools::ChangeDirectory(STRING(ITK_TEST_OUTPUT_DIR_STR));
+  }
+  using ImageType = itk::Image<float, 2>;
+
+  ImageType::Pointer
+  MakeImage()
+  {
+    auto image = ImageType::New();
+
+    ImageType::RegionType region({ 3, 2 });
+
+    image->SetRegions(region);
+
+    image->Allocate(true);
+    return image;
+  }
+};
+
+
+} // namespace
+
+TEST_F(ITKWriteImageFunctionTest, ImageTypes)
+{
+  ImageType::Pointer image_ptr = MakeImage();
+  itk::WriteImage(image_ptr, "test1.mha");
+  itk::WriteImage(std::move(image_ptr), "test1.mha");
+
+  ImageType::ConstPointer image_cptr = MakeImage();
+  itk::WriteImage(image_cptr, "test1.mha");
+  itk::WriteImage(std::move(image_cptr), "test1.mha");
+
+  const ImageType::ConstPointer image_ccptr = MakeImage();
+  itk::WriteImage(image_ccptr, "test1.mha");
+  itk::WriteImage(std::move(image_ccptr), "test1.mha");
+
+  image_ptr = MakeImage();
+  ImageType * image_rptr = image_ptr.GetPointer();
+  itk::WriteImage(image_rptr, "test1.mha");
+
+  const ImageType * image_crptr = image_ptr.GetPointer();
+  itk::WriteImage(image_crptr, "test1.mha");
+}