diff --git a/dinov2/data/datasets/custom_image_dataset.py b/dinov2/data/datasets/custom_image_dataset.py
index ed1e1a4..30caa40 100644
--- a/dinov2/data/datasets/custom_image_dataset.py
+++ b/dinov2/data/datasets/custom_image_dataset.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import os
 import pathlib
 
 from torch.utils.data import Dataset
+from .decoders import ImageDataDecoder
 from PIL import Image
 
 class ImageDataset(Dataset):
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ class ImageDataset(Dataset):
                 if file.lower().endswith(('.png', '.jpg', '.jpeg', '.tiff')):
                     if is_valid:
                         try:
-                            Image.open(os.path.join(root, file)).convert('RGB')
+                            Image.open(os.path.join(root, file))
                             images.append(os.path.join(root, file))
                         
                         except OSError:
@@ -46,15 +47,25 @@ class ImageDataset(Dataset):
                         images.append(os.path.join(root, file))
  
         return images
+    
+    def get_image_data(self, index: int):
+        path = self.images_list[index]
+        with open(path) as f:
+            image_data = f.read()
+
+        return image_data
 
     def __len__(self):
         return len(self.images_list)
     
-    def __getitem__(self, idx):
-        image_path = self.images_list[idx]
-        image = Image.open(image_path)
+    def __getitem__(self, index: int):
+        try:
+            image_data = self.get_image_data(index)
+            image = ImageDataDecoder(image_data).decode()
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"can nor read image for sample {index}") from e
 
-        if self.transform:
+        if self.transform is not None:
             image = self.transform(image)
 
         return image