diff --git a/utils/general.py b/utils/general.py
index da7dbb6d3e55..65dd9326797e 100755
--- a/utils/general.py
+++ b/utils/general.py
@@ -925,8 +925,8 @@ def increment_path(path, exist_ok=False, sep='', mkdir=False):
 imshow_ = cv2.imshow  # copy to avoid recursion errors
 
 
-def imread(path):
-    return cv2.imdecode(np.fromfile(path, np.uint8), cv2.IMREAD_COLOR)
+def imread(path, flags=cv2.IMREAD_COLOR):
+    return cv2.imdecode(np.fromfile(path, np.uint8), flags)
 
 
 def imwrite(path, im):