diff --git a/test/test-suite/Makefile.am b/test/test-suite/Makefile.am
index 690361f7..b50601bd 100644
--- a/test/test-suite/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/test-suite/Makefile.am
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	test_histogram.py \
 	test_iofuncs.py \
 	test_morphology.py \
-	test_resample.py
+	test_resample.py \
+	test_stream.py
 
 
diff --git a/test/test-suite/test_stream.py b/test/test-suite/test_stream.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af3743e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-suite/test_stream.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+# vim: set fileencoding=utf-8 :
+
+import sys
+import os
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+import pytest
+
+import pyvips
+from helpers import \
+    JPEG_FILE, PNG_FILE, TIF_FILE, \
+    WEBP_FILE, \
+    temp_filename, assert_almost_equal_objects, have, skip_if_no
+
+
+class TestStream:
+    tempdir = None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def setup_class(cls):
+        # for now, only run these tests if we have the stream pyvips installed
+        if pyvips.__version__ != "2.1.9":
+            pytest.skip("tests cannot run with pyvips {}"
+                        .format(pyvips.__version__))
+
+        cls.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+
+        cls.colour = pyvips.Image.jpegload(JPEG_FILE)
+        cls.mono = cls.colour.extract_band(1)
+        # we remove the ICC profile: the RGB one will no longer be appropriate
+        cls.mono.remove("icc-profile-data")
+        cls.rad = cls.colour.float2rad()
+        cls.rad.remove("icc-profile-data")
+        cls.cmyk = cls.colour.bandjoin(cls.mono)
+        cls.cmyk = cls.cmyk.copy(interpretation=pyvips.Interpretation.CMYK)
+        cls.cmyk.remove("icc-profile-data")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def teardown_class(cls):
+        shutil.rmtree(cls.tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def test_streami_new_filename(self):
+        x = pyvips.Streami.new_from_filename(JPEG_FILE)
+
+        assert x.filename() == JPEG_FILE
+
+    @skip_if_no("jpegload")
+    def test_image_new_from_stream_filename(self):
+        x = pyvips.Streami.new_from_filename(JPEG_FILE)
+        y = pyvips.Image.new_from_stream(x, "")
+
+        assert y.width == 1024
+        assert y.height == 768
+
+    def test_streamo_new_filename(self):
+        filename = temp_filename(self.tempdir, ".jpg")
+        x = pyvips.Streamo.new_to_filename(filename)
+
+        assert x.filename() == filename
+
+    @skip_if_no("jpegload")
+    def test_image_write_to_stream_filename(self):
+        filename = temp_filename(self.tempdir, ".jpg")
+        x = pyvips.Streamo.new_to_filename(filename)
+        self.colour.write_to_stream(x, ".jpg")
+        with open(filename, 'rb') as f:
+            data = f.read()
+        data2 = self.colour.write_to_buffer(".jpg")
+
+        assert data == data2
+
+    def test_streami_new_memory(self):
+        data = self.colour.write_to_buffer(".jpg")
+        x = pyvips.Streami.new_from_memory(data)
+
+        assert x.filename() == None
+
+    @skip_if_no("jpegload")
+    def test_image_new_from_stream_memory(self):
+        data = self.colour.write_to_buffer(".jpg")
+        x = pyvips.Streami.new_from_memory(data)
+        y = pyvips.Image.new_from_stream(x, "")
+
+        assert y.width == 1024
+        assert y.height == 768
+
+    def test_streamo_new_memory(self):
+        x = pyvips.Streamo.new_to_memory()
+
+        assert x.filename() == None
+
+    @skip_if_no("jpegload")
+    def test_image_write_to_stream_filename(self):
+        x = pyvips.Streamo.new_to_memory()
+        self.colour.write_to_stream(x, ".jpg")
+        y = self.colour.write_to_buffer(".jpg")
+
+        assert x.get("blob") == y
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    pytest.main()